slowly surfacing...

OK so it's been a while. Almost long enough to be reaching that point where I am too embarrassed to get back on here and write, but. Oh well - here goes.

The last long run I did was on the beach in Rio, kind of lost my will otherwise to go for hours. This one was a good one though, from Copacabana to the end of Ipanema and back, probably about a 8 miler in total so doesn't really qualify as a long run but between dodging street vendors and the kids that weave down from the favelas with their withered flowers and dated candy to sell, it felt something like an obstacle course ripped straight out of 'City of God'. A few nagging aches and things with lower backs, nothing prohibitive, but they've been good to hide behind.

So, back to it then. Do I even have time to make it for Honolulu? And there's the added complication of the conference that I'm meant to speak at the day after the marathon, which is just plain ridiculous.

I have a house guest too at the moment, a great friend from high school from Australia, but I have to make sure I don't use that as an alibi to avoid the gym.

Did I mention it's getting cold?

Can anyone else think of any other reasons to avoid getting back in there???~~~!!!

18 miles complete this evening!

Ran almost entirely to angry hip hop and at 6.7mph except for the last mile which was 6.9-7.5.

I ran the first 6 miles on the Washington and Old Dominion trail (yes with my trusty GPS/heart rate monitor so I could check pace and make sure I wasn't about to choke in the oppressive heat), but it gets dark pretty quickly after 7pm and since I started a bit late I ran the rest at my gym.

Was kind of disappointed that the woman who I met two weeks ago wasn't at the gym tonight. I don't think I wrote about her when it happened but when I ran the 17 miler last time, at about mile 14 this woman comes into the gym and starts talking at the side of my head. I politely tell her I can't hear her because I'm listening to music. She keeps talking despite this, little gobules of spittle forming at the side of her mouth and I accept that she won't move until I hear what she has to say so I reluctantly  take my headphones off and she's asking me how long I'm going to be on the treadmill.

She climbs onto the treadmill next to me, awaiting my response.

I tell her I'm not sure - probably just less than a half hour as I have 3 miles to go. No response. I put my headphones back on and focus back on my run.

A few minutes pass, and she's talking at the side of my face again. Flecks of spit, not sweat (she's going 4.5 mph) alert me to this. I stare at her incredulously and remove my headphones.

She's lecturing me on how long I've been on the treadmill. It's inconsiderate. Unacceptable.

Note - she's on the other treadmill and there is no one else at the gym.

She continues - I'm not the only person living in this complex. The world does not revolve around me. I can't hog the treadmill.

What does she want from me? I'm now at 15 miles, feet pounding.  I know the other treadmill's TV doesn't work perfectly, so I figure maybe that's it. I mean, she doesn't have headphones but maybe she wants to lipread The Bachelorette or Biggest Loser.

I tell her we can chat all about it after the run, headphones back in. She keeps talking but I really can't hear her now. I crank Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing in the Name of' and somehow being cranky helps me run harder and I do my fastest long run ever, closing it out with a grueling grade increase combined with speed increases until I get up to about 8 miles/hour.

I hit 17 miles and slow down to a walk. During my cool down I asked if she wanted to swap machines. She smugly refuses, and mocking my Australian accent says 'I'm sorry love, I can't hear you I'm listening to music and trying to lose weight while I throw some shrimp on the barby!!'

Oh boy. That's funny. She's been agonizing over that one liner now for 25 minutes.

She's very lucky that I am completely juiced on endorphins, which make you happy. Happy people don't slap people in communal gyms, even if they're mean and do the worst Australian accents ever. They just don't.

She continues to tell me that any workout that is over 30 minutes is inconsiderate to other people and she needs me to acknowledge this. She's pushing my buttons. I've promised myself not to bite - in moments of crisis, you have to revert to your higher self.

Then I say something bad.

I tell her that if she truly believes that, then that is probably why she's a porker. Oh dear. Factually correct, yes - but decidedly not what I had meant to come out of my mouth. It just kind of slipped...

Well anyway, needless to say the gloves came off then and she started cussing me out something impressive. I did apologize for the porker comment (even though I was pretty mad by now it was unkind and I hate when I stoop, and besides, there's just something intrinsically satisfying about repeating the word 'porker') but she wouldn't have it. Eventually I became worried that she might eat me so I went home shortly thereafter...

And haven't seen her since.

Luckily I'm moving back to New York soon so hopefully that was the last of it...!

Ah - the perils of training for your second marathon in a gated community in Reston....doh!

Week 10 plan - the glorious week of catch up (?)

I need to complete 4 runs this week to bring myself back on schedule.

Monday: Workout 1 (catch up) - 18 miler (run at 6.7mph, this will take 2 hours 42 mins)
Tuesday - swim
Wednesday - Workout 2 - speed work - 8x800m
Thursday - break/cross train/weights
Friday - Workout 3 - mid run - 5miles (run this at 7 mph)
Saturday - weights/break
Sunday - Workout 4 - long run - 15 miles (run this at 6.7 mph)

week 9 mid run

 Completed this afternoon (on the treadmill, too too hot outside!) with the following speeds:

7mph for mile 1, flat
7 mph for mile 2, 0.5 grade
Mile 2-2.5 0.1 speed increases (so 7.1-7.5)
then last half a mile with 0.5 grade increases finishing at 7.5mph and 2.0 grade.

Generally, I've found a good way to increase the difficulty and mix up the workout is to vary things for the last mile either by speed or grade, or both.

As confidence increases, it is OK to start varying the grade and speed earlier in the run, but particularly for longer runs you don't want to push yourself with too much variance up front and psych yourself out. I've fallen into this trap a few times, where you 'cheat' yourself during the run by upping the challenge too much too soon, and then I find it difficult to get back into a good workout for a few days.

The balance? Hard enough so that you are genuinely working out, not so hard that you psych yourself out of future workouts at that level.

Week 9's running plan (last week, catch up week number 3)

Workout 1 - 12 x 400m (.25m) - complete on Friday at 8mph
Workout 2 - 3 miles (run this at 7mph, Sunday)
Workout 3 - 18 miles (6.7 mph, run this on Monday)

Note - these three workouts should have happened Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday but I'm still behind. The plan is to run workout 3 on Monday, and then pick Week 10's schedule up Wednesday/Friday/Sunday to be back on track.

Seriously!!

Playing catch up now for two weeks running (weeks 7-8)

Since my July 4th weekend trip to Vieques where I skipped my Sunday long run (didn't have it in me to run the 17 miles indoors, in a resort on Independence Day!), I am still playing catch up. The good news is I haven't slipped any further behind. The bad news is I haven't managed to catch up either!! Running sites always tell you not to sweat missed workouts, so I am going against popular wisdom and trying to catch up, will see how it all goes...

I ran my 17 miler from week 7 on the Tuesday after getting back from my holiday.

Week 8's running plan was this:

Workout 1 - 3x1600m (ran at 7.5-8mph on Thursday)
Workout 2 - 10 miles (ran at 6.8 and 6.9 to end, but not run until Sunday)
Workout 3 - 13 miles (ran at 6.7 and 7 to end, on Tuesday of the following week)

I have been swimming in between but for some reason really struggling to catch up. Had a massive work milestone (a 2 years-in-the-planning product relaunch) on Wednesday of last week, which involved a couple of very very late nights in the office. Still. Giddy-Up GIRLIE and GET BACK ON TRACK!!!!!

on the importance of planning snacks

I travel a bit more than 50% of my time, and although I know you know this I want to reiterate - PLAN YOUR SNACKS IN ADVANCE!!!

Particularly if there is the chance that due to a hectic meeting schedule you are likely to skip a meal. Like today  - and here I am on the Acela train with smoked almonds,  the Amtrak cheese plate and a Twix that I absconded from the NY office with. Gross.

In my defense, I did actually plan my snacks but I left them on my kitchen counter in my 6:30am dash for union station this morning. Another excuse, anyone?

Have to use the remainder of the train ride (only about 20 mins to go now) to psych myself up for my speed work tonight. Yippeee!!! Can't think of anything I would rather do on about 4 hours of sleep and a gruelling day of meetings :)

The (belated) running plan for this week (Week 7 of 16)

Monday - catch up run from last week, 15 miles (complete)
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - 7 x 800m
Thursday - 8 miles
Friday - rest
Sat/Sun - 17 miles

The only complication this week is my July 4th vacation to Puerto Rico. I'm going to stay at the Vieques Hotel. I'm typically not really a resort person but I couldn't resist...and I do like W Hotels even though the staff usually have a touch too much attitude for my liking....I think I will be the only mad person in there trying to run 17 miles on July 4th holiday. Goal: get it run Saturday because it would be really boring to have to run it on Monday after flying back in to DC!!!

15 miler complete on Monday night

Yes, it happened from 7:45 through to a little past 10, as I couldn't get out of the office early. It had to primarily be run indoors because it was getting a bit late to hit the W&OD trail and I was running out of light.

Basic stats: speed: 6.7mph the whole way through, except for the last mile which was run from 6.9-7.5mph. I threw a few hills only into the last 2 miles.

I think this was officially my best run ever... on track for my under 4 hour goal although it's hard to know yet if I can sustain this pace over a marathon distance...

PS I ran today for the first time with jelly GU chomps rather than gel packs - does anyone else run with those? I found them kind of hard to chew while running, but a great runner who I know who has run multiple marathons swears by them. Thoughts?

Some recommended reading

I particularly enjoyed the Haruki Murakami novel and highly recommend it. I am about half way through Born to Run and I'm really liking this one too so far. Interestingly, I have read almost all of Murakami's novels to date and this is actually the first of his that I have really enjoyed, because it didn't feel cold or veiled in clever intellectual distance as he usually is.

OK - so the long run is not going to happen today.

Woke up still feeling a bit achy and tired, despite exceptional frozen yoghurt with fresh berries (my new obsession) last night.

I just don't think my body wants to cram my training into the last three days of the week - which means this big run needs to happen tomorrow and today is a rest day. Ugh, this is a much less enticing task to start the week off with!

For full transparency, I have also been somewhat tempted by the very yummy menu at Cityzen in DC, at the Mandarin Oriental and am going there to meet a friend for dinner, which makes a 2.5 hour or so run a bit less appealing.

Do you think I'm making the right choice? I suppose I could still fit a short swim in, but a big part of me just wants to veg this afternoon until I need to head out... lamewad excuse or valid exception? I have no idea.

5 miles complete

OK - so far this catch up plan is happening! Because the weather is sooo warm today, I decided to do my 5miler at the gym in the complex where I live. And of course, there is a pool party going on just outside, ouch!

But I kept to it, at 6.9 mph and 7.1 in the last mile.

Do I really need to do the 15 miler tomorrow? I've been SO good yesterday and today!!

Going to do the 5 miles

What constitutes a perfect Saturday?

So far this morning I have completed my expense reports (yes I am almost owed 5 figures in less than a month of not submitting), eaten avocado on spelt toast and vegemite on toast and caught up on back episodes of Royal Pains... kind of really just catching up on life. The upside to being away from New York and away from all my friends (if there is one) is that you don't have the same kind of distractions. Having said that, I am super looking forward to moving back in late July.

Now, to get the 5 mile run done before it seriously becomes afternoon...planning for 6.7mph, which is roughly the marathon pace I will need to run to get to my goal of under 4 hours. OK then, so maybe I need to go for 6.8 or 6.9 so I have something of a buffer?

Then perhaps the pool? The weather is kind of perfect but the sky has a thing in it that looks like a threat of storming or rain. After the 2 hours that we spent on the runway earlier in the week waiting for storms to clear out of Dulles I am suspicious of anything that even remotely looks like bad weather...

OK, to run now...

5x1200m - complete!

One down, two to go.

It occurred to me that I should probably post up my marathon training schedule - it has all the formulas in it and is (embarrassingly) geeky but helpful to track your progress.I'll create a runner's resources section soon with all that stuff in it if you're working out how to run your first marathon.

delinquent week 1

Horrified to admit it but this was a complete no-training week - my first in probably over a year!
Mon-Thursday of no running, ugh!

Although this is no excuse I did have three public speaking engagements (all of them data driven and therefore intrinsically stressful to make engaging!) and spent 4 nights out of 4 in a hotel room (three different hotels). Boo hoo. I absolutely have to swim and run today or I'm going to climb up a wall!

Plan today: 5x1200m + swim
Tomorrow: 5 miles
Sunday: 15 miles

(and yes, I know every marathon training program tells you not to cram your training. So sue me).

Stay tuned...

my motivation for training

This was the view from my hotel room in Hawaii.

I have since promised myself to only pick gorgeous places to run in.

I'm thinking this is worth 26.2 miles and six measly months of training...

The trick is to make the why big enough to motivate me!

Honolulu, I love you... and Sydney - I miss you!

beyond my first marathon

Last year I ran the Honolulu marathon in December, and it was awesome. It was my first marathon, and my first time in Hawaii. I had begun training with a friend, but when they dropped out a few months out I decided to continue on - I hadn't, after all, been training on hotel treadmills in strange cities as I traveled for work for nearly six months, for nothing!

I ran a respectable time: 4:28, and this year I have a goal of coming in under 4 hours. I am planning on running the Kauai marathon in September and then Honolulu again in December (yes, I do see the Hawaii theme emerging). I live in New York where it gets cold, so any excuse to head to warmer waters, particularly if I can couch it in something that is good for me, is a big win!

So I am into week 6 of the FIRST marathon training program, and tonight I ran the long run (14 miles). I am struggling to stick to the marathon plan (I naturally prefer a more ad hoc approach), but have gotten a bunch of glowing recommendations about how it can improve your time, so I'm giving it a whirl.

This week 3 runs: 10x400m; 6miles, 14 miles

Top tips for myself: don't think too much before you go running - just get out there and turn your brain off, it's over before you know it. I didn't get out there until too late today, so I ended up having to do my long run on the treadmill at my gym - but fear not, other than having found my lost ipod and all of my music, Remember the Titans was also running so Denzel kept me company on my run.