20 miler

Things that go bump in the night and Boston week 11 recap

March 20, 2012 by Kristy 25 Comments

Thanks to Daylight Savings, my early morning runs begin in complete darkness. Luckily, my neighbor (Maximus, his blog alias) has been running weekdays with me. It’s really nice having a “bodyguard” so to speak. Without him, I would be running a well lit section of trail – a span of about 2 miles – back and forth until the sun came up and I could enter the “woods”.

I call it the “woods” although it’s anything but. Essentially the paved trail moves into a tree lined section. I never enter the “woods” without complete daylight. It’s scary when it’s dark. Even running with Maximus we are both on high alert. Like yesterday when I ran behind Maximus and over to the other side of the trail because I mistook a trash can as a person crouching down and ready to attack (told you it was dark)! I really need to lay off the I Survived the night before a run (sidenote: does anyone watch that show? It’s great!).

Anyways, this week is my last big push mileage-wise before Boston. Most people running Boston are doing their 22-miler this weekend. I’m running 15 this weekend and then 22 next weekend. I do a 3-week taper in terms of mileage but a 2-week taper in terms of my long run. It’s different but it works well for me.

Boston Week 11 Recap
MON: 8 easy
TUE: 10 tempo: 4 faster than MP and 3 at HMP (plus WU and CD miles) + barre class –> I definitely took the bus to crazy town this day. I was exhausted at the end of barre and my legs felt like jello. Never again!
WED: rest!
THU: 7 speed –> and a sub-7:00 min/mi appearance!
FRI: rest
SAT: 20 18 miles –> tough run; my legs were trashed!
SUN: 8 easy

51 miles for the week!

Ever run in the dark and think things like stop signs are out to get you? Or is that just me? We also see bikers with headlights riding 2 across and it looks like a car on the trail coming at us <– that is scary!

Anyone running Boston doing a 2-week taper? Anyone a fan of the 2-week taper?

Boston Week 11 Recap

Weekend Updates

March 19, 2012 by Kristy 22 Comments

In no particular order…

My new lucky number…
Is 17983. That’s what bib number I’ll be wearing on April 16th! Boston released bib, wave, and corral info on Friday. I’m in Wave 2, Corral 9…or 2/9, my birthday Smile

The 20-miler that wasn’t…
I was supposed to run 20 miles on Saturday (20-miler #4). By mile 12, I was aware of 3 things: (1) my legs were trashed. Maybe mile repeats 2 days before wasn’t the best idea or maybe all the miles and intensity of the Monster Month are getting to me? (2) my right hamstring was tight. This is 100% my fault, as I’ve slacked off a bit with my PT exercises. And (3) damn, it’s hot out!

I decided to back off my pace (I was running 8:30s up until that point). There is no sense in pushing the pace when my hammie feels tight. By mile 16 I wanted to be DONE. Oh god, was I hating life. I followed my gut and cut it short at mile 18. I wasn’t doing my legs any favors by running 2 more miles “just to make it 20”. I finished in 2:40 (8:53 average pace).

On Sunday I ran 8 easy and felt good. Just some residual soreness but otherwise OK. My gut is always right!

Low-key St. Patty’s Day
Staying home and drinking beer on the deck and watching basketball was the perfect SPD celebration.

Miller Lite looks classy in a frosted glass

So very true…
I saw this on Run The Edge’s FB page over the weekend. When I read through the comments, I couldn’t believe how many people didn’t get it or are completely void of a sense of humor.

Any part of the meme ring true to you? I love “what my mom thinks I do”. If you can’t read it, it’s basically a creepy man asking if you want to come to his house for candy. And…aren’t we all Kara and Shalane when we run?!

Check out my guest post on Terzah’s blog!

Weekend Recap: Running

February 11, 2012 by Kristy 6 Comments

I know it’s odd to write a weekend recap on a Saturday but I’m done with running for the week (I’m taking a barre class tomorrow, which I’m sure will sufficiently kick my butt).

Funny how running works…on Tuesday I was nervous and not feeling confident at all. Then I had great runs yesterday and today and now my confidence is starting to come back.

FRIDAY
Since I had already planned for my 20-miler to be a long, slow distance run, I knew I could get in some marathon-paced miles on Friday without adversely impacting Saturday’s run. My plan was to run 6 miles at MP. I felt great and the miles seemed easy. Turns out they were faster than MP – 8:13, 8:13, 8:08, 8:08, 8:05, 8:08. Sweet! Gotta love when that happens.

SATURDAY
We got “snow” overnight. This is my kind of snow though – sticks to the grass and trees but leaves the sidewalks and roads just wet. It pretty much “snowed” the entire time I ran so I put my hood up and hunkered down for 20 miles. It was really beautiful out. No wind, wasn’t too cold, and everything looked so pretty. I love LSD runs – no pressure, just fun. I finished in 2:59 (8:57 average pace).

Fun fact: A year ago, I was in San Fran for my birthday and I ran 15 miles. I remember being so happy that my average pace for a long run was 9:00; that was huge for me. And now a year later, it’s my LSD pace. Hooray for progress!

I am so ready to celebrate my birthday. I’m not-so-patiently waiting for Matt to come home from the airport. He was away for 2 weeks (again). Boo.

I hope your weekend is off to a good start!

Progression Run Love

February 5, 2012 by Kristy 18 Comments

After a rough 20-miler last weekend I wanted to try a different approach for this weekend’s long run. I wanted to avoid going out too fast in the beginning but also wanted to include some marathon-paced miles towards the end. Since it always takes me forever to warm up in the winter, starting out slower gives me a chance to warm up naturally (not forcing it) all while saving energy for the later miles. I love progression runs so I decided on the following…

3 miles at 9:00 pace
4 miles at 8:50 pace
4 miles at 8:40 pace
the remaining miles at 8:30 or faster pace…this would give me about 7 miles near MP.

I didn’t do so bad…

It’s funny, my legs went on autopilot and resorted to old marathon paces – 9:00, 8:45, and 8:30. I had a hard time keeping myself at 8:50 or 8:40.

Overall, I was pretty pleased. I felt great; it didn’t feel too taxing and I had energy at the end of the run.

Are you a fan of progression runs?

Do you have a pace that your legs automatically gravitate towards? I was stuck at 9:00 minute/miles for awhile before I started doing speedwork. My legs always gravitate towards this pace.

It's Monday Again?

August 15, 2011 by Kristy 10 Comments

8/15/11
7 miles easy…Garmin-free!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! This is the second weekend in-a-row that Matt and I didn’t have to travel anywhere and it was fabulous.

Friday
I had a very early wake-up call (4:30AM) for a 20-miler. It went well and I felt pretty good throughout the day. That night, my friends from high school came over. We sat out on the deck, ate pizza, drank (well, I did most of the drinking), and chatted the night away. It was so good to see everyone. We only get together a few times a year and I always look forward to it.

Saturday
I didn’t get to bed until midnight on Friday (super late for this grandma) but, of course, woke-up at 7AM. Normally that’s “sleeping in” but it was my rest day and I wanted to take full advantage of it. Oh well. Matt and I ran some exciting errands (looking for granite countertops and bathrooms floors). By 5:00, I was a zombie. We re-watched The Hangover and I was in bed by 9:30. Don’t judge.

Sunday
It was raining so I donned my hat (the only time I sport a hat, you can see why below) and went outside to run my 7-mile tempo. I love to run in the rain in the summer – it’s so refreshing. 5 miles at 8:00 pace with a mile WU and a mile CD: 8:19, 8:00, 8:02, 7:54, 8:20. I dodged puddles and ran in the grass for the first and last tempo miles.

This is a familiar site – soaking wet shorts. See why I don’t wear a hat? I think some people have a good head for hats and I do not. My head is rather large and so is my hair. And I look like a boy.

On Sunday afternoon, Hawk had a very special play date! My friend Michelle brought her daughter, Charlotte, over for a visit. Charlotte loves dogs so we thought it would be cute to get them together.

DSCN1537 — hawk is OK but posing for the camera is way more fun

Question of the day: did anyone run in the rain yesterday or did you stick to the TM? Do you like to run in the rain? I like to run in the mud too. I need to sign up for one of those mud races.

20 Miles, Take 4

August 12, 2011 by Kristy 19 Comments

8/12/11
20 miles / 2:52:52 / 8:38 avg pace

It’s a beautiful day! When I got back to my car post-run the temp was 67?! Wow. Further evidence…my shorts were (somewhat) dry after my run! If you can’t tell, I’m holding up 4 fingers because this is my 4th 20-miler…obviously.

I felt pretty good throughout this run, aside from some GI issues around mile 14. This is odd for me, usually business is taken care of pre-run (sorry, I mean how else can you talk about this topic?). Isn’t funny how your GI tract knows exactly where the bathrooms are and notifies you? OK, movin’ on…

Splits – the first 10 miles. I was in complete awe of the sunrise this morning (I need to bring my camera – it’s unreal) and you can tell I didn’t start getting serious until mile 6.

The second 10 miles. I’m happy to see I picked up the pace at mile 14. Mile 19 was an awful hill…but I rebounded nicely with mile 20 🙂

So. Happy. To. Be. Done! Beer and pizza tonight with friends…and we all know how much better it tastes after a long run!

Unrelated question of the day: I’m thinking of switching to wordpress.org but I need to choose a web host. Anyone have suggestions? How is Blue Host? Has anyone used Revive My Blog?