What an up and down week this has been. So much going on, and my brain didn't have space to put it all. I'll start with the good stuff first, and that was with speedwork.
So, the local running club here offers speedwork practice every Wednesday night. I had not been to speedwork since October, and have been wanting to get back into it, figuring that I can use mileage from that towards my mileage on my training plan, which is three miles for my shorter runs. I figure that I can usually warm up with a 1/2 mile on my own, do the speedwork practice and figure out the distance from that, then wind down my practice with doing whatever other distance I. needed to do on my own to make up the three miles.
Just.My.Luck. Guess what I had to do my first time back....a timed mile. We're also at an indoor 200 meter track, which doesn't help. At first, I thought the other members were just messing with me, but they were right. I was not happy about this, as I was hoping to ease back into speedwork. I know that I have been doing some speedwork type of stuff on my own on the treadmill with my shorter runs, but I was not looking forward to the timed mile. The coach told me that I can just use it as a baseline to see where I'm at, but my competitive side kicks in too much, as I still want to beat my record of 7:50. For me, a timed mile gives me the mentality of "go hard, or go home," so I did a major case of "suck it up buttercup" and lined up with "slower" group. For this practice, we had a "slower" group (8 minutes or slower), and a "faster" group.
Being grateful that I had my watch on to help me keep track of my distance, I set off. The thing about the timed mile for me is that I always dread starting it. I tend to have a love/hate relationship with speedwork anyways. I do love that it helps me get faster in the long run and that I'm with good people. However, I sometimes hate how tired and hard I really have to work. Yet, at the same time, it's really cool for me to look back and think, "Hey! I did that tonight! I'm tired as heck, but I did it!"
isr than I expected. I managed an 8:01, which is right on the cusp of me being in the "fast" or "slow" group. I know it wasn't my fastest, but it was faster than my previous time in October at 8:04, so I'm okay with that. After my group finished, we all rested while the faster group did their timed mile. Holy moses, those people could fly! Those people were finishing in the 6-7 minute range, which is warp speed for me at this point.
After both groups were done with the timed mile, we did 4 200s. We kept the same groups, but alternated. My group started first, and I have to admit, I was very proud of how I ran those 200s! For once in my running life, I was NOT brining up the rear! For ALL 200s, I was in the top 3 (maybe 4) of my group, and lead female runner. All of my 200s were in the low to mid 40 second range, and I was able to get really fast starts. On the second 200, there was one guy that I tried to pass as we were running side by side. We were both running HARD, and I was practically running on my toes trying to catch him. However, he pulled away and I couldn't keep up. On the following 200 round, I managed to hold that same runner off for 1/2 a lap! I know that it doesn't seem like much, but considering that he just kicked my tail in the last round, it was so satisfying to know that I was running faster than he was for half a lap, and that I was in second at that point. Then, on the last lap, this one other guy snuck up behind me down the last stretch. I knew he was trying to pass me, so I dug a bit deeper and put on an extra burst of speed. I literally felt my hair flying back, and heard another runner shout something along the lines of "That's the way to do it," as I put some distance between me and the runner behind me as I crossed the finish line. I was so exhausted, and breathing so hard, but under it all, I was proud of how I did. I was running hard with an amazing group of runners, who pushed me to run faster than I have in a long time in speedwork, and I seriously can't expect anything better than that. Regardless of what our times are, all of us in speedwork (and in running in general) are doing this together.
After the speedwork was done, and a few minutes of recovery, I realized that I needed another mile and half on my own to do to meet my 3 miles for my running mileage for the day. I don't know if Garmin sportswatches lie a lot, but mine somehow picked me up at an 8:47ish pace. I certainly didn't feel like I was running that by any means. I felt like I was running at about 11:30-12 minute pace, due to how tired I was. I swear, running on an indoor track by yourself (well, there were other high school/middle track practices being held), is super mentally challenging. At least on the treadmill, I can usually find something to watch on the t.v. At the indoor track, all you see is a track going in circles, some bleachers, a long jump pit, some high jump mats/bars stuff, and some spit/barf cans spread about the circle. If you don't have something to help keep track of your laps, that can get difficult as well. I think for me, the hardest part is the thought of just being "stuck" in there with no place to really "go" to. However, I am grateful for it, in case the treadmill or being outside is not an option. However, let's just hope that I never have to run majorly long distances in there, if I can at all possibly avoid it.
Now, onto a bit of harder stuff.
I ended up really needing one of my runs (a 5 miler) as a source of "therapy" as I had way too many things going on in my head....things that I'm not proud of with myself, events happening here in the U.S. and even my own community, frustrations in my skating (although the later is very minor in the grand scheme of things), things happening in the lives of those close to me, etc., and my brain only has so much space. The only way I knew how to deal with all these thoughts and emotions was to run with hopes that things would get "left on the pavement" so to speak. I got home from work on Friday, didn't even bother to grab my ipod, but changed into some running gear, did a quick planning of my route, grabbed my watch, my water bottle, house key, id, and left before the opportunity passed up. I purposely didn't grab my ipod as I knew I was running short on time (literally), and I felt like music, for once, was not going to help me mentally. I didn't even have the brain capacity to listen to the music at this point. Just going out there, and pounding the pavement was the only thing I knew I could handle at that time.
My "therapy session" with running and being outside was very helpful. It didn't solve my problems, but running gave me something else to focus on. I thought I was running fairly slow, as it felt like that's what my body needed, but I somehow managed an average of 9:48 pace (minus a few stops for traffic). I did come back feeling much better...something about hitting the ground with my feet and focusing on my breathing does a lot of good. Despite me having sore legs from speedwork (more about that later) two days beforehand, and gymnastics the night before (which is almost always really fun), I came back in a much better mood.
Then....I made the decision to go see the new movie "Patriot's Day." For those who haven't seen it, it's a combination of a documentary and movie drama about the bombings at the Boston Marathon in 2013. It covers a timeline of the night before/early morning hours of the marathon all the way through the time in which the bombers were captured. What I was not prepared for is all of the live footage that was shown of the actual bombing. Maybe I'm just getting more sensitive as I get older, but as someone who is training for her first marathon, I found that SO.HARD. to watch. These bombings were happening right at the finish line area. You see the real live amazing runners running towards the finish line, then BOOM...their lives being completely turned upside down. I nearly cried and almost left the theater. It was so hard for me to see these awesome runners literally lose their lives, limbs, or even a piece of their mentality from such a tradegy. It just scared me knowing that this could happen at any race, at any time. Then, the movie continues to show the events leading up to the capture of the two bombers, using both the live footage and movie drama. I don't know how much of it was fabricated to make the movie more interesting, but I did learn a few additional things about the bombings, and I left the theater feeling so horrible that Boston had to go through all of that. However, what was uplifting was seeing some of the survivors running IN the Boston Marathon about two years later, and seeing the city come together.
One of the guys they showed at the end was using a running leg prosthetic, and him running past that exact same spot where he was hit from the bombing. I don't know how he prepared to go through that spot again, but I have nothing but respect for him probably pushing through that spot....it seriously had to be the biggest mind game for him. I know that he cried the moment he passed it, and I can't even imagine the emotions that he experienced at that moment. I know that I'd be at least a combination of joy, sadness, and relief. I just can't imagine the physical and emotional pain that people in the Boston area went through, but I am so glad that they have been able to pull together and keep hosting that historic marathon, and for ALL the runners that finish it.
Long Run :
Today was my "set back" week of 7 miles, and I decided to run the marathon course that covers miles 21-23ish as part of my route. I also decided to try using the salted caramel flavored GU, which, surprisingly, I actually liked. Since the consistency is super thick, I thought it would be best for me to take just a little bit about every two miles (about where aide stations would be), and it worked pretty well with me chasing it down with a bit of water. It did make me burp some, so I may have to tweak my process of taking it a bit to not have that happen, but I was otherwise okay.
The temperatures were mostly on the cool side....upper 40s, but with some wind (as usual for our area). I had written down directions for me to refer to once I got to the few miles that I wasn't as familiar with on the course. Well, I think I ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere around what will be the mile 22 marker because, I ended up about a mile to mile and half off course. I know that this won't happen in the actual race as it's well organized, so I wasn't too concern, but what was a bit concerning was that I hard time finding my way back to the intersection that the route showed for me to be on. I eventually ended up looping back to a previous road that I knew, and eventually saw an intersection that I recognized, and knew my way back from there, I did get an extra mile in out of the deal, but it took me quite a while to get back to the bus stop that I needed to get to (and I got passed by another bus that I didn't think to try and catch....oops). However, I ended up walking about another two miles to get to my stop, rather than a mile or less had I not gotten lost. By this time, I had cooled down physically, and I think the temperatures had dropped some, so I was getting cold. I finally reached the bus stop area, but saw I had another 17 to wait for my bus. Plus, there was some guy that was making comments about me obviously being cold. Thankfully, there was a store I could pop into for a few minutes in order to warm up that was just across the street. My hands took quite a while to warm up (feet were fine), and a short while later, I was eternally glad to be on a warm bus, and even more thankful to whomever created hot showers once I got home.
So, I guess the lesson of this long run is to really make sure which direction I'm needing to go when I'm in a different neighborhood. I think what I will do for next weekend is do a google search for more specific directions/maps on the streets for those few miles, so that I don't have this happen again. I know that once I get to a certain point...close to mile 23, I will be home free in terms of knowing the route. I just need to be more certain of where I'm going after mile 20, so that I don' have this happen again.
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