Goals and whatnot

Quick rundown of my race goals: 1) Enjoy the race and finish happy 2) Beat my PR, 4:05:39 3) Sub-4 hour finish 4) 3:50. This is about an 8:45/mile pace, one I know I can hold on a good day – which is what I'm going to have tomorrow.

Weather looks good, partly sunny with a high of 65. Fingers are crossed that the wind will be calm. I'm starting to get some pre-race jitters, but they're mild. There has been so much going on the past few weeks, and I have so much coming up, that this race has sort of become just another item on my to-do list. Which is kind of nice, actually – there's been no time to freak out about it.

Last year I had a list of things that I was going to think about if I found myself struggling in the last few miles. I ended up not needing it, thanks to the giant hill that took up miles 21 and 22. You might think it's cruel to have the only big hill on the course near the very end but it worked out really well for me. I was so focused on getting to the top of the hill that I didn't think about what mile I was on, and then the last three miles were an easy downhill. So even though I was hurting, there was no way I was going to stop – not on a downhill! I hope to have another good finish tomorrow, but it never hurts to be prepared. 1) Head up, shoulders back – run proud 2) Breathe. In-in, out-out. 3) Look around you, enjoy the scenery 4) And for extra motivation if things get really bleak out there: "You're not going to amount to JACK SQUAT! You're gonna end up eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!"

Have a great weekend! I know I will.

Three days and I'll be done!!

Whoops, no I'm not dead or anything. Just feeling kind of impatient for this to be over. I started off this training cycle really well, but ever since I went on vacation/got sick in March, it's been a real struggle. So I'm excited to get it done and try something new. I feel pretty good about Newport. Not really nervous yet – I think it will hit Friday night. Even though my mileage has not been great I completed all my really long runs, so I know I'll get through it. I was just hoping to do more than "get through it." Actually I'm really looking forward to this weekend because we have a bunch of friends coming down to camp at Beverly Beach and cheer us on. Then I'll be joining them on Saturday night. We camp every year about this time, and it's always a blast – and this time I'll have an excuse to eat so much.

My longest run, 22.5 miles along the course in Newport, was HARD. HARD HARD HARD. There was a strong wind coming off the ocean (I know, duh) and coming back in was like running in a wind tunnel. (However, the day after our long run it was completely calm, even on the beach. We've all got our fingers crossed that the 30th will be the same.) I think because I was babying my calves I ended up overusing my quads – whatever the reason, the latter sputtered at about mile 16. The last two miles were absolute torture. My end point was the one-mile marker on the bay road, and I have never, ever wanted something to arrive so badly. Not even the finish line of my first marathon. I kept thinking it was around each corner and getting more and more frantic to finish before my legs fell off. And the next day I was walking like Lurch – again, it was worse than the day after Yakima. Weird. Looking back I'm still not sure what the deal was: I hydrated; I took some salt at the turnaround; I took gels and bloks pretty regularly. It wasn't cramps, they were just exhausted. I can only hope that race day shapes up better.

The calf thing is still hanging around. Since I was already screwed in regards to the plan I drafted up months ago I figured I might as well tweak my schedule to try and get rid of the calf pain as much as possible. It's not distance that makes them hurt, it's running multiple days in a row. So I've been combining runs, or skipping one and putting in the time on the stairmaster instead. It's been working for me so far. I was supposed to run 4 yesterday and 4 today – instead I ran 8 yesterday and will spend 45 minutes sweating my a** off at the gym. (Seriously, I sweat so much on the stairmaster, I'm plastered with it. Whereas I barely sweat at all when I run, even on the treadmill.) Yesterday's run was nice – it was partly sunny, not too warm, nice breeze. A little soreness in the first mile but then I shook it off and was fine. I kept trying to think positive thoughts, visualize good results, etc. I got to mile 6 though, and thought "gee, on race day I'll have 20.2 more to go…"

GODDAMIT BRAIN, WE'VE BEEN OVER THIS!
Sigh.

And for no good reason, a picture of us girls getting ready for 80s prom at the Kennedy School earlier this month:

That flushing sound is my training going down the toilet

Yeah. Yikes. I never skipped a single run during my first round of marathon training last year. I moved some around, combined some, etc. But I hit my mileage every week. This time? Not so much. That calf pain I mentioned last week has stuck around. On Saturday I was scheduled to run 13 miles but only made 9, then skipped Sunday's run all together. I was really hoping that giving it a rest day would fix everything, but Monday's run was hard too. And yesterday I barely hung on for four miles. Five minutes browsing around the interwebs leads me to believe there is something going on with my Soleus muscle. But regardless of what oddly named muscle is bugging me, the prescription is the same: rest. I have my longest training run planned for this Saturday, 22 miles. If I can have a good final long run I'll be fine. So with that in mind I'm skipping the other two runs planned this week. My inner couch potato is ecstatic, but most of me is pissed. I'm definitely getting my hands on Run Less, Run Faster for Timberline.

Junk miles averted thanks to some Teutonic beweggrund!

I rarely listen to music when I run, especially outside. I find it distracting in a not-good way (like when Inappropriate Speedo Man parades around the gym pool). But when I know a run is going to be particularly tedious I bring my iPod because the tunes help pass the time. My lower legs have been feeling unhappy since Tuesday, so I grabbed the iPod to get me through yesterday's six miles.

The first three miles were just terrible. My calves were complaining vocally and I couldn’t muster any speed at all. Then around mile 1.5 I got passed. Normally I have no problem getting passed – there are many runners out there who are much faster than me and I'm hip to that. In fact there's this one woman who frequently chicks me when I run the SC at lunchtime (lousy so-and-so). Anyway, it wasn't the fact that I got passed, it was the Passer that bugged me. It was this girl and well, not to hate on her, but she did not look like she ran a lot. I don't mean that she was heavy (I'm living in a glass house on that one) but she had NO muscle tone in her legs. You know what I mean – whether you want it or not, running tends to make for some alarmingly defined calves and thighs. This girl, not so much. And I was all, dang it, I'm getting passed by some chick who runs twice a month? Sigh. I kept hoping she'd turn around at each half-mile marker so that I could at least salvage some small shred of pride in knowing that I was going longer than she was. Nope. I turned around at 3 miles having been thoroughly served.

Back to the music thing (aka what was supposed to be the point). After turning around I took a minute to stretch out my calves, hoping they'd feel better. I started off in my pathetic jog again, cursing Phideppides, when these dulcet tones came into rotation on my iPod:

Yes! Awesome! Yes! It's Rammstein, everyone's favorite mask-wearing, moonshine-swilling, car-exploding German industrial metal band! Immediately I perked up.

Am I going to let this stupid ribbon of pavement beat me? NEIN!
Am I going to plod home in misery? NEIN!
Will I relegate this run to junk miles? Heck NEIN!

No joke, I started sprinting like the car behind me was on fire. It was wicked – like running a 5k where you just put everything you have out there. Sweeeeeet. I made it back to the start in like, half the time, and wasn't dragging at the end. At all. "Bring it on!" I was thinking. I wanted to break into a little Muhammad Ali shadow-boxing action at the stoplight but thought better given the large crowds of people around me. Now if only Inappropriate Speedo Man would do the same…
*
PS - Just for good measure I got hailed on again, while out in the boat Monday night. It was kind of a kick, actually. I got soaking wet despite being reasonably well water-proofed but hey, it is a water sport.