The Adventures of GeekGirl

This morning I had a pretty big speed workout on tap. I needed to do 4-5 x 4:00 @ moderately hard pace (no clue what that is) and then 3 x :40.  By the 3rd 4:00 repeat I was questioning if I was going to finish this workout. Fortunately, I’m a super stubborn chick and got it done. All that I had to do were the :40 second intervals. Except…

I thought I was supposed to do 6 x :40 intervals, and that’s what I did. I was completely wiped out after those “short, easy” intervals. I limped my way through a 1 mile cool down. I wanted to do 2 miles, but pffttt…I was running out of time and just ready to go home. (Note:  Get to the gym right when it opens for these workouts.)

Here’s how it all went down:

2 mile warm up (22:00)
4 x 4:00 @ 9:08 w/2:00 recoveries
6 x :40  @ 8:30 w/1:20 recoveries
1 mile cool down (11:00)
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6.5 miles Total

I’m looking forward to 4 days of nice hard running. (I’m not working at the office and will be making a cameo appearance at the running store on Saturday.) I’ll also be cleaning house, doing homework (did I mention that classes started again? Probably not.), and just doing all of those things I don’t usually get to do. (Sleeping and watching Buffy.)

What are you doing this holiday weekend?

My mileage still isn’t where I want it to be and with 10 weeks left, I’m starting to freak out just a little bit. As of Friday morning I had decided to throw in the towel.

I’m loving my runs during the week, but honestly I loathe my long runs. I can’t think of a single thing about them that I like. I know this is due to the heat since when I trained for my half in January I ran my long runs by myself and didn’t blink at doing up to 13 or so miles by myself. My runs were awesome!

When I remembered that, I decided to give myself one more long run before I threw in the towel. I had 14 to 16 miles on schedule. I figured if I could not get my 14 miles done then maybe it was time for me to reevaluate this while marathon in November thing.

Long story short, I ran by myself in my neighborhood at 4:15 AM. Yes. You read that correctly. 4:15 AM. I had to meet my group at 5:30 and needed to do 3-4 miles prior to meeting them. (Running afterwards hasn’t worked so well with this heat.) I ran 3.2 or so then hopped in my car and drove over to the store. We then did another 10 miles. It was supposed to be another 11, but I think I messed up  on one of the turns.

Who gives a shit about all that, though. The point is that I got in 13.25 miles of running that DID NOT SUCK. It wasn’t the 14 that I wanted, but I don’t care. 13.25 will suffice. The time was slow and I was tired at the end, but I got it done.*

I got in 29.5 miles this week. Low because I took an extra day off to deal with some sciatica.

Next week is a bit confusing because I have a 5k on the schedule. I don’t WANT to run a 5k in this heat. I’m going to play this one by ear. Anyway, I should get right up around 40 miles this coming week.

Onward!!

*I do think we got a bit of a break with humidity. It did not feel as hot as usual. I mean, it was 88 by time I was done, but the humidity might have been lower. (Just let me believe that.)

This week and part of last weeks running was sidelined a bit due to my right leg tightening up and my heel hurting. I also had a pretty severe pain in my quad. When I took a step back to realize what was going on I realized that it was my sciatica acting up, per usual. The good thing about that is I can usually run with it. The bad thing is that it’s not always comfortable. I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off since my entire ass was hurting. For serious, y’all. I couldn’t even sit at my desk comfortably.

I did a bunch of stretching, foam rollering (that is so not a word), and yogaizing (that’s not a word either). I also hydrated like a crazy woman and stopped drinking my nightly wine. (This is where the crazy theory comes in.) By Wednesday morning, my body felt pretty normal and I was able to run like nothing had happened. I walked up and down the bridges to be on the safe side, and felt like my leg did tighten up in that last mile a bit. It wasn’t bad or anything, though. It was just “uncomfortable”.

So what’s my theory? Dehydration contributes to my sciatica. I don’t think it causes it or anything like that. From reading a bit about back pain in general it seems that dehydration can sometimes play a part and some think that hydration can help sciatica. I think it keeps the muscles nice and fluid and gets rid of the inflammation. That’s really all that sciatica is in my case.

With that said, I need to strengthen up my hips so that this doesn’t happen anymore. I found this hip strengthening workout on Runner’s World and have begun doing it a few times.

This week I’ve run an easy 5.6 miles that was so damn boring I forgot I ran it. (Seriously, I couldn’t remember when I ran last and it turned out it had just been Wednesday.) Then yesterday, I decided to move my speed workout to the evening to see how my ass felt throughout the day. Since all systems were go, I went to the gym to do my prescribed workout. Note: I put the wrong workout in my previous post. It was actually 4-5 x 5:00 w/3:00 recoveries.

By the time I made it to the gym, it was packed. There were only 3 treadmills left and none of them were ones I liked. I decided to do a 25 minute warm up and then  hop another for my workout since the room quickly emptied around 7ish.

My intervals went well. I ran them at around 9:11 each. When I got home, I realized they should have been faster since it was a V02 Max workout. It should have been a bit faster than 5k pace. I have no idea what my 5k pace is. Zilch. Nada. I think I should have been around 8:30 or faster. Whatever. I felt like I worked hard and got a good workout in that I did NOT want to do.

Here’s what I do have to say, the gym was ridiculously hot with lots of mean women at it. They stare and give you dirty fucking looks for no reason. Sure I’m sweating up a storm and possibly singing while running, but who cares? Mind your own business.

Anyway, my workout came out to the following:

2.3 mile warm up (25:00) 
4 x 5:00 @ 9:11 w/3:00 recoveries (29:00) 
1.5 mile cool down (16:00)
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Total: 6.7 miles

I was going to run an easy 3 this morning, but I feel a bit worn out since I got no sleep last night. All I did was sweat. This happens when I run hard in the evening. I’ll rest up today for my long run tomorrow. I REALLY hope it goes well. I know I’m getting in shape, but I don’t feel confident about these long runs. As a matter of fact, I hate them. That’s a whole other post, though.

When I started started running again, in ‘04/05, I thought that the treadmill was horrible. Only little pussy weekend warriors hit the treadmill. For the most part, I still think that is true. If someone is doing under 3 miles on the treadmill and that’s the only running they’re doing they pretty much suck. On the other hand, I’ve learned that with the horrid Florida heat, I’ve learned that sometimes the way to go is to hit the treadmill.

Feeling a little achy and inured? Treadmill.
Want an uber easy run where you don’t lose 5 lbs out on the run due to sweating and can breathe? Treadmill.
Some sort of speed workout that you KNOW you can’t complete outside without blowing up? T R E A D M I L L

Maybe you notice something here. Our LOW TEMPERATURE is 78 overnight. No 60’s. No low 70’s. When I head out in the morning, it is usually already in the 80’s.  I have to say that I LAUGH at you New Englanders that whine about a heat index of 80 by 6 in the morning. Boo hoo. (Catch me in the winter when it’s in the 30’s and I’m crying. Though that was freaky. For the most part it’ll be in the 60’s and I’ll be rocking the hell outta shorts and tshirts in February. Holla at your girl!)

Anyway this was my way long way of saying that sometimes the heat here is relentless and the only way for me to get a good work out done is to hit the gym. If I want to sleep past 6 – 7 at the latest- I need to hit the gym. Speed workouts would NOT be happening if it weren’t for the treadmill. Period. I’d be blowing up on every single run.

So, treadmill? Third one from the right on the third row? I want to marry you. We should run away together and have beautiful little runner babies and stuff. I know that’s not possible, but whatever.

Do I feel like less of  a runner? Hell to the no, bitches. As my mileage increases, I just think this is another way for me to get my runs done. The majority of my runs are still outside. When I’m feeling injured, hot, need to hit  a certain pace I’m at the gym. On average 1-2 times a week. It is so worth it, y’all.
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Today’s Run: 5.8 miles | 60:00 | 10:20 or so
I feel like I’m falling apart. My heel hurts, my knee hurts, and my hip hurts. So I hit the treadmill just to see how I felt when I ran. Everything felt fine. The knee got a little whiny at the end, but it was nothing that felt injured or anything. I will continue to ice, foam roll, and all of that good stuff.

I will try to do my long run tomorrow. By myself. I can do it!!!

So. Yeah. This week I had no motivation. It was pouring rain the early part of the week causing me to move some of my runs around. In doing so, I wound up missing one run. Not a major one and this was a rest week, so I’m not really going to sweat it My mileage should have been a bit higher, but whtever.

I finished this week with around 22 miles or so. I haven’t even pulled the info off my Garmin.

I had an excellent run this morning. It was a Progression run. The last one I tried to do was a complete failure due to the heat and wind. I decided that it might be best to take this one inside. I couldn’t face trying to run fast in 85+ weather. It also let me sleep in a bit and not have to be up at 4:45.

Here’s how it went down:

30 minutes @ 11:08
30 minutes @ 10:30ish
30 minutes @ 9:52

8.5 miles | 1:30:00 total |  10:36 pace

This run rocked and restores my faith that when the weather cools down my paces should be just fine. I do think my times are super soft and I should be running a little faster.  I wasn’t even breathing hard on this run. (I can’t even tell you how awesome it feels to say that after having a pulmonary embolism and wondering if my lungs would ever come back!!!)

Next week is going to be a bit intense. Hopefully it’ll go down like this:

M – Yoga Meltdown
T – 5 – 6 miles EZ
W –  Fartlek (8-10 x 2:00 w/1 minute recovery) PM:  Yoga Meltdown
Th – 5-6 miles EZ
F – Yoga Meltdown OR 30 minute run
S – 12 – 14 miles
Sun – 40-50 min. Recovery run

Total – 32 – 41 (Gulp!)

I’m adding in an extra day of running. It’ll be either this week or next week. If I feel I’m pushing it, I’ll do it next week. This week will be all about resting up, eating well, and making sure my body is getting what it needs. My first marathon I PEAKED at 40ish miles. Here on out, this is my average mileage.

So, with that I’m adding in my Yoga Challenge. I want to do yoga at least twice a week. At stake? A new pair of shorts (T.B.D.)  if I can make it through the next 4 weeks.  (Gotta bribe myself.)  I’ll report weekly.

How is your fall marathon training going?