Summing up 2008's Running History

It's been hard to maintain my motivation/mileage but I've just about completed a whole year of running/races without a break. As you can see from my blog, I used to just average 1 little race a year. I don't believe it was until I finished my first trail run, Tecumseh, that something hit me...
I could actually keep running year round and I would therefore never have to "train" for a long run. I would keep my endurance up and forget about the 18+ weeks of training for one yearly marathon. Brilliant.

So, that's the plan that Chris and I have stuck with this past year and after Tecumseh, we will have completed 10 races in 2008. Our plan worked, but with a downside to it.

We ran a race almost once a month of marathon+ distance and then ran shorter runs in between.
This was great and definitely took off all pressure and nerves that you get before a run. Normally if you only train for one big race a year, you're so pressured to do well during that run that if you don't, you'll hate yourself forever.

• That's what happened to me after my first marathon in 2004, the Chicago Marathon. I expected to run at least a 3:30 since that's what I had trained for. I was so pressured to keep that pace and so worried about it that I had negative energy and ended up running a 3:47. After the race, I was disappointed with myself for a long time.

So anyway, the downside to Chris and my plan was that we didn't put too much mileage in inbetween the races. I don't think I ever ran more than 10 miles at one time inbetween the races- maybeee 1-3x at most. On the other hand, that's what worked for us. We're both busy people (like everyone else) and for me personally, having an intense weekly running schedule was not my top priority.

I don't know what 2009 will look like. The majority of the races in 2008 were all new to me. What do I do next year, just run the same ones again? Is that as fun? I know you'd recommend me to find other races elsewhere, but I am trying to save a little bit of money. Sheesh.

Right now I'm pretty sure I'd like to run a 100 mile race, perhaps the Mohican Trail Run next summer. If I'm cutting back on the number of races I do (although I haven't decided that for sure), that means I'll be forced to discpline myself to get in the miles and train. Dangit...then here comes that pressure I talked about again- Training for one big race.

We'll see. We're still in November and who knows what's to come...heck, I could break my ankle and be screwed for the next 5 years for all I know.

Sluggishness

I'm trying to force myself to exercise more but it's getting hard...and I keep eating sweets in the meantime- DANGIT.

I realized I wasted 25 minutes yesterday on the elliptical. I never get on it and I decided to get a different cardio workout yesterday. I chose the "hill workout" but didn't select a level since I didn't know how to. I noticed my legs were moving really fast and I was sweating a ton but after 25 minutes, it said I only burned about 60 calories. Once my friend came in the room I realized it's not a workout at all if you don't select at least a level 4 or something. No wonder it was so easy. Sooo....I got the heart rate up but it was a waste of my time. And even though I did it wrong, I still think I was burning more than 60 calories. Come on, I'm probably burning 100 right now by just typing this.

After the elliptical I went to the treadmill for just 2 miles. I know, it's dinky work. I hate the treadmill.

And I still haven't done a trail run for awhile now....dangit.

Newly Found Post-Running Awesome Snack

My friends are in Chile now for 4 1/2 months and they left behind their big dog, Kaiser. Unless I visit him during this time, I've been told that this poor dog will not get walked at all. Of course feeling guilty, I took him on a run this afternoon at the canal.

He had tons of energy and so he pulled me super fast in the beginning. I didn't like it but I was keeping up. Literally after 10 minutes, the dang dog got tired and started walking! How annoying! Don't dogs know how to pace themselves? So since I didn't want him to die on me, we walked some so he could catch his breath. For the next 10 minutes we walked some, ran some, etc.

It's too bad that dog's out of shape because it was perfect weather and started to sprinkle, too. I wanted to at least get in 30 minutes of running but it didn't happen.

So anyway- to relate to the title of this post- I came home and I was bored. As usual, I stand at the freezer and fridge and expect some great, magical food that I haven't noticed the past 2 weeks to jump out at me. Nothing looked good but since I was bored, I felt like I had to eat something. I grabbed the bag of frozen blueberries and my life has been different ever since.

YUMMMMMY- that's my awesome new snack. Eating the blueberries frozen somehow hit the spot after a run. I've always loved blueberries but how come I never ate them frozen after a workout? They're refreshing, half-way hydrating, healthy, and delicious. Put them in a little bowl and eat them.

I just finished off the bag and since I'm still bored, I'm going to go make chocolate chip cookies.

Summer Buckeye Trail---Mandatory Community Service???

I've never run the Summer Buckeye Trail but I have run the Winter Buckeye Trail (which is unfortunately already sold out). I had a really good time at the winter race and was looking forward to running the summer race in 2009. I heard that the summer trail was more challenging, but a lot of fun.

So anyway, I just got an email (see below) stating that there are new qualifications for the summer race. They are requiring (although I don't know how they'll keep track) each runner to perform 3 hours of volunteer work- either by volunteering during a race or by doing other work at a park.

I'm in a dilema. On the one hand- if you are lacking volunteers or if you just want people to help out more to be a good citizen and what not, I can see why you would want to make these 3 hrs be mandatory in order to participate in your race. On the other hand- this race is 5hrs+ from my house and it is very unlikely that I will drive to OH on a separate occasion to work for 3 hours. Therefore from what I understand, I'd be ineligible to run this race.

Here's the email:

"Summer Buckeye Trail 50K – New Qualifications for 2009
Every participant that enters into the Buckeye Trail 50k for 2009 will have to fulfill 3 hours of volunteer duty
This can be done through volunteering at a running event (road or trail) and/or volunteer hours at a local park
Many events and parks have opportunities to volunteer
Volunteer forms will be posted along with the Buckeye Trail registration form in the spring of 2009
If you have any questions please email Vince: vince@verticalrunner.com"

Is this normal? Do you think they'll really get the same amount of participants running and volunteering to work the 3 hrs?

I know 3 hours is not a long time at all and that so many people always volunteer their time to help out during the races, for free and in the cold. Butttttt....why can't I just pledge to volunteer at some other random race that's near my house so that I can still run the race?

Vamos a ver...

Weekly Mileage

Well I made myself go to the track last Monday to do some sprints. I don't know what distance the track is- I assume 4 laps to a mile (whatever that equals out to). So I probably sprinted 100 yards or something- the length of one side. I did that 8 times in about 20 seconds each time. It was only 20 seconds of my life but I still hated doing them; isn't that weird? 20 seconds is such a short time to not just make yourself do a million of them. Oh well, you have to start somewhere.

Yesterday I probably ran about 7 miles downtown. That reminds me- I haven't run on trail in a long time- dangit! Unfortunately it's been a lot more convenient lately to run on pavement than to drive to a park for trails. My next trail marathon, Tecumseh, isn't until December so I'll have a little time to get back out there.

This afternoon I'll try running a little bit, and then maybe get some hill repeats and/or sprints in, too.

Boston Marathon More Pain Than Gain?

I'm still trying to finalize my plans for Boston and decide on plane tickets, housing, etc. I asked my dad if he'd be interested in going with me and said, "Are you sure that's not the weekend of Pascha?". Dangit! We checked a calendar and sure enough, Pascha is April 19th! I'll be darned!

Technically we celebrate Pascha on Saturday night, April 18th...so I could try to find a church out there and attend the service. I'd sleep in all day Sunday, wake up for the Expo, sleep, and then run the race on Monday. That seems like a dud...but it might have to happen.

My dad also reminded me that out of all the huge cities he's driven in before, Boston was the most difficult to navigate around. He said he was lost many times and the roads are all weird.

Is this true? How do 25,000+ runners/fans survive Boston each year when the majority of them are from other states/countries? Do they just take taxis everywhere? Any advice/enouragment?

Winter Running Clothes Suck

I've made it out for a few runs in the cold this past week and these darn extra layers of clothes don't make it fun. I already feel like some slow, fat person running---they just weigh you down.

Then it always is hard because you don't know how many layers to put on and if you'll get hot or not. I started out for a run yesterday all bundled up and then stripped down the layers after about 5 minutes. Ahhhhh the troubles of my life.

Back up and running...

I went out yesterday for the first time since Columbus Marathon. I started running and just wasn't in the mood to do so, so I walked/ran/walked/ran for a little bit. I decided to do some hill repeats and then I did only about 5 45 second sprints.

Why do I hate sprints? It was seriously super hard for me to make it 45 seconds; I kept looking at my stopwatch. Do any of you have any advice for doing sprints? Will it be easier if I go to a track to do them? I bet doing a 45 second sprint doesn't even do anything for me...it's too short of a distance.

Instead of doing a sprint, should I just run a little faster than normal but not super fast? I think I hate them because I don't like pushing myself to run really fast for that long of a time (yes, 45 seconds is a long time). So maybe if I just run a little slower I'll enjoy them more, but then does it defeat the purpose? Ay ay ay

Finally BQ'ed and PR'ed- Columbus Marathon Review

Short story:

I finally qualified for the Boston Marathon- 3:34. I beat my 2004 PR by 13 minutes and I'm pretty happy. The course was awesome- very flat and a lot of downhill portions. The weather was great and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Longer story:

I woke up Sunday morning and had to scrape frost off my car. It was pretty cold in the beginning but it later warmed up- perfect running weather.

Somehow I just knew I would qualify at this race. Two days before the race I had a dream that I qualified, but I forgot to put on my chip so my time wasn't recorded. Then the day before the race, I had a dream I qualified and all was well. It sounds dumb but those 2 dreams actually gave me confidence during the race that I was going to make it.

I didn't know how to plan out my pacing for this race. I had thought about starting out with the 3:30 pace group and then later slowing down to the 3:40 group when I was tired. I was afraid to do that because I didn't want to kill myself early on in the race, but I knew I didn't want to start out with the 3:40 group. Too much pressure.

So anyway, I lined up to start with the 3:30 group. Before the start, I randomly saw Bill there. He was walking the marathon and finished in 5:08- 3rd place! Anyway, the gun went off and the 3:30 group was already out of sight. I ran the first mile in 7 minutes and that group was probably about 25 seconds ahead of me. Way too fast.

Sooo, I just put on my music and was going to try to run a nice pace on my own- always staying ahead of the 3:40 group. And I did- I somehow maintained an 8, 8:05 minute pace the whole way. I kept on feeling good so I kept on trucking.

I think 2 main things contributed to my good run (considering I had only run 3x in the previous 3 weeks).

• Number 1- my music. Before the race on Saturday, I put together a new "Clara running playlist" to get some good, upbeat songs for the race. It consisted of some Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Blues Travelers, Dave Matthews, Dixie Chicks, Spanish music, etc. The music seriously helped a ton.
• Number 2- I took Chris's advice and sugared up during the whole race. I normally will eat 3-5 gus during a marathon and this time I ate 7. Every half hour I took an S!Cap and a Gu. I never felt sick and I actually had a better post-race recovery. I wasn't even hungry.

I had read reviews on the race beforehand about the amount of hills on this course. Half of them said that the course was flat, and the other half said it definitely wasn't flat as advertised. I was expecting the worst and I found the course to be super flat. I am one who hasn't done a hill workout in forever and I hate incline, and the course seemed perfect. There were maybe 2 small inclines that lasted less than .3 miles, and that was it.

There was surprinsingly a lot of downhill and that was super nice. It was especially nice having the last .2 miles into the finish line be downhill.

Anyway, a good race all in all. I'm glad I don't have to spend more money on an out of town race just to try to qualify again.

A good, wet run

I finally ran yesterday for the first time since the Akron Marathon (and I wonder why it's hard for me to qualify for Boston...). I should have been studying but I had to take advantage of the rainy weather; and my next race,the Columbus Marathon, is approaching quickly.

I ran about 5.5 miles at about a 7:35 pace and hope to get out there again this afternoon. Since I know you're all interested, during my run I felt a gnat go right down my throat and it felt like it was stuck there. It was gross and made me start coughing a lot. For the rest of my run and even when I got home, I kept coughing because it felt like I hadn't swallowed it completely. Sure enough, after coughing a million times, that darn little gnat came up in my spit. Isn't that gross? I've never actually brought an insect back up- that should be a talent.