Cambridge Half Marathon

This past Sunday (November 13, 2016), I ran the Cambridge Half Marathon through Cambridge and Belmont.

Splits

1. 9:03
2. 9:19
3. 9:10
4. 10:13
5. 9:04
6. 9:07
7. 9:28
8. 9:21
9. 9:56
10. 10:47
11. 10:17
12. 9:49
13. 8:43

Pre-race

However... I barely ran this week because I got unroofed blisters on both my arches from running the previous weekend. I didn't figure out the best way to deal with them until Friday and ended up taking 4 days off running this past week. I only did 6 miles on Monday and 3 on Saturday. I felt pretty good on the morning of the race, got enough sleep, had a solid dinner the night before. I didn't get up as early as I had planned, so I wasn't able to eat breakfast, but I did have a GU Stroopwafel prior to starting the race.

Race

I told myself I would keep the pace around 9:15 for the first 7 miles, then speed up just a bit for the last 6. I was mostly able to do that (other than a side stitch in mile 4 that caused me to stop for a minute). However, during mile 7 I started fading and I really hit a wall in mile 9. I had to start walking a bit because I felt I had no energy left. I had a bit more GU and was able to rally in the last two miles, but I really fell short of my goals and was not feeling really positive. The race itself was great... they did a great job of closing off the roads, plenty of spectators, not too crowded once we started running. But apparently, it was not the day for me.

Final Time

2:06:05

BAA Half + Oktoberfest 5k Recaps

I just got this tool and it has made a huge difference in how my feet feel. Because I was feeling slightly better, I was able to argue myself into doing both the Oktoberfest 5K and the BAA Half. I was pretty much always going to do the 5K... it's short and I didn't see any reason to skip it. However, I had convinced myself that I shouldn't do the half. Then I convinced myself that I should a few days before. Why? Because it was the last race in the distance medley and I didn't feel like I should skip it unless I was feeling really shitty (which I wasn't). So here are the race recaps!

Oktoberfest 5K was a solid race. The Cambridge 5K folks always know how to put on a great event. They are never too crowded and always a good time. Since it's Cambridge, the courses are almost always completely flat. While I didn't improve as much as I wanted to, I did decrease my overall time by about 30 seconds and finished in 25:26 (an 8:11 min/mile pace). Near the end I started slowing down, so I made the choice to take some strategic walk breaks. I had been on track to finish my last mile in 9 minutes. By taking the walk breaks and catching my breath, I was able to keep that last mile down to 8:20. Lesson: there is no shame in walking. Granted, half the time I walk during a race, I get some comment like "you got this! almost done!" from some stranger. Not sure about everyone else, but comments like that make me feel like I'm failing by walking... instead of making a strategic decision that will allow me to get a better time than I would if I had kept running.

The BAA Half was not what I expected. Mostly my own fault because I didn't bother to look at the course map ahead of time. It's in Jamaica Plain, so it starts off in the opposite side of the city from me, so it was a bit hard to get to and from there. The course was also quite hilly, which was a surprise since the other BAA races (the 5K and the 10K) were downtown and incredibly flat. It was also incredibly rainy this past Sunday. And cold. Considering 10000 people were registered and only 6200 people finished, I think a significant amount skipped this race. And since the cutoff time was 3 hours, I'd wager a large amount of people didn't finish. I finished in 2:08:52, which was 3640 overall and 416/832 in my division. The extra cool part for me was that I was one of the last people to start (they closed the start 2 minutes after I crossed), so getting to run past at least 3600 people was pretty cool! The course was also really pretty. If it was a nicer day, I probably would've really enjoyed this race (despite the crowd). As it was, I was not too cold while running, but as soon as I stopped, I was freezing. My clothes were soaking wet. I had a jacket that I had kept in my hydration pack that I put on, but it quickly soaked through as well. I had to wait about 20 minutes for an uber, so, by the time I got home, I had been cold and soaking wet for about an hour. My lips were blue and I couldn't stop shaking. But at least I got a medal with three unicorns on it! As for the Distance Medley as a whole, I finished in 3:31:33, 71/196 in my division and 322/932 out of all women. While it does feel like an accomplishment, I probably wouldn't do it again.

Quick rainy selfie right after finishing the race. Not freezing yet!

On Injury And Illness

This past month has been a rough one. My plantar fasciitis flared up, I had a stressful week out of town where a friendship was ended, and I also got strep throat (complete with multi-day fever and severe headache). Needless to say, this has had a dramatic impact on my running. Last month (August), I ran a total of 175 miles. This month? 112 miles. And since I have to take two weeks off running to help my plantar fasciitis calm down and become less inflamed, that number is not going to be increasing. I almost feel a bit hopeless where that is concerned because what really irritates it is walking... and I have to walk commute. I can't stop walking every day unless I work from home every day, which is not possible right now. Anyway... here's how I'm getting through this:

1. Lots of indoor cycling: I need to exercise and stay off my feet, so hopping on a bike is the best way. I haven't managed to get my heart rate up super high yet, but still working on it!
2. Ice: I have used a frozen water bottle (roll out my feet and ice them at the same time!) and just plain old ice packs that I wrap on my feet. Helps tremendously.
3. Rolling out my calves with my addaday roller: I got this gem at Ragnar New England and definitely one of my favorite purchases. It really helps me dig into my muscles like none of my other tools.
4. Golf/lacrosse ball: I use a golf ball at home and a lacrosse ball at work... all rolling out, all the time!
5. Ball Leg Curls: My hamstrings aren't quite as strong as they need to be, so I'm trying to take this time to do some strengthening exercises so I can come back even better. This particular one was recommended by my physical therapist.
6. Planks: My core is strong... ish. Not strong enough and that actually does matter as a runner. It's not just your leg muscles that make a difference! Trying to do planks for about 3 min every day (1:30 per session).
7. Food: Crappy two weeks mean I also was putting crap in my body. That ranged from too much bad food to not enough food to have any strength (thanks strep!). Going back to my two favorite Runner's World cookbooks, plus some other healthy basics. Gotta have good nutrients to recover and stay strong!

I hope no one else is in my shit-tastic situation, but if you are, you don't have to despair. Just switch it up a bit and take care of yourself.

Ragnar Trail Relay New England Recap: Always Good To Be Prepared

This past weekend I ran my first Ragnar Trail Relay (which was also my first trail race). This particular race was in the mountains of Northfield, MA, just about two hours outside of Boston. I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy the trails, but significantly less sure that I was going to enjoy the "camping overnight" aspect. That ended up being totally accurate. I really don't like camping! The only relief is that I couldn't actually sleep that much anyway, so my back could only hurt so much. My team also forgot the cover to our canopy. And the fuel for our camp stove... luckily b.good was there with food that we could buy and I was definitely grateful for the breakfast sandwich Saturday morning. Speaking of teams and being prepared...

If you do one of these, definitely make sure you are with a team that you feel like you can count on. The team that I was on was definitely not prepared and I'm not just talking about forgetting to bring things. One of my teammates was wearing shoes that had no support and a hole in the sole... he rolled his ankle in the first loop and couldn't do the rest of the trail. Another teammate hadn't run more than 3 miles in years and only ran on a track. Another one only runs occasionally and was not prepared for the 7 miles. The lack of preparedness led to us not actually finishing. We were going to try to make up the injured guy's legs, but then I also said that I would take the long leg for the woman who didn't run distances. We fell behind and the most I can say is that everyone who could run, finished their 3 legs. Whatever, let's talk about the actual running!

The scene while waiting for a teammate to finish on Friday afternoon.

The trails were awesome. They were super clearly marked, so it was pretty hard to get lost, even at night. Like most New England trails, there were tons of roots and rocks, so I did have to be careful. And even being careful, I still rolled my ankle a bit (not to the point of injury, just mild frustration) and I fell on my face once while I was running down a hill. Even with all that, the runs were awesome because everyone was so positive and supportive. Anyone who runs by would say "awesome job!" or "keep it up!". The struggle on these hills was definitely real, so it was nice to hear that as I'm going up a hill that would never end. Also, almost everyone I talked to walked up every single hill. It wasn't really worth the effort expended to be 1 minute faster up each of them.

My first run was at 8pm on Friday and was the 7.3 mile loop. That was my most potentially fatal run and I'm still surprised I didn't hurt myself given the amount I tripped. Even with that, it was still one of my best runs. After that, I stretched and attempted to get some sleep. I got up around 4am to prep for my next run (which ended up starting at 5:20am). That was the yellow loop: 4.9 miles. The time and temp made it feel the best out of all the runs, but my time was the worst. I think the lack of sleep made the hill at the beginning feel just a bit worse. At this point, we had talked subs and I was going to sub my green for another red. However, I really wanted to experience the green. When one of my teammates asked for a running buddy on her green leg, I happily volunteered. The green leg was pretty fun! It was nice and short and had a solid downhill for the second mile, which made it just fly by. By the time I got to my second red loop an hour after finishing the green loop, it was almost 10F warmer and even the shade of the woods couldn't stop me from sweating. Running the red loop in the daylight gave me a more accurate comparison to the other loops... the second time running it, I barely tripped at all. I think if I had run red as the sun was rising, I could have had a pretty excellent time.

As is, I feel pretty good with my performance. I also feel like I would probably do an ultra team if I were to do this again. While having time in between the runs was nice (stretching helped recovery SO MUCH), the 6-8 hours between legs (had I just done the ones I was supposed to do) was way too much. I would also buy some more camping equipment so I didn't end up sleeping on the ground. Definitely a fun environment and well organized, so I would recommend Ragnar events to others without hesitation.

B.A.A. 10K Recap: OMG SO HOT

I did the B.A.A. 10K this morning and it was so hot and awful. They said at the beginning that 10,000 people had signed up, but luckily only 7,811 showed up. Small blessings. It surprised me that there were only 900 fewer people than at the 5K, which was such a small dent, I didn't even notice that there were fewer people. It was so crowded that, even though I was waiting in line at the porta-potties when the race started, I still made it into the right corral and started the race with everyone else... 15 minutes after the initial starting gun.

At the start with about 5000 people behind me

I do not do well in the heat. It was about 73 degrees and super sunny with no breeze (WTF BOSTON YOU ARE ALWAYS WINDY). I don't really sweat, which is a blessing and a curse, because I overheat like crazy. If I didn't have my hydration pack, I legit think I would have passed out. I felt strong the first two miles and did those sub 9. But then the next two were at 9 minutes and the last two were 9:30+. I really didn't feel good about this race overall, but it definitely felt better organized than the 5K so there's that.

In the end, I finished in 56:11. I finished in top 40% overall and top 27% in my division. Combined with my 5K time, I'm now 70th in my division for the Distance Medley and in the top 26% of women overall. For that, I'm super proud!

On Being An Overly Ambitious Beginning Trail Runner

I've recently been going trail running with run of my friends at dawn (or before). We've only gone twice so far together and it's been an adventure. Our first time out together, we got to the Fells at 4am, had no headlamps, and used our phones to light the trail. We also just had a paper map and kept missing turns, so we ended up going three miles less than we intended due to time. But it was a beautiful morning!

Sunrise over the reservoir in the Middlesex Fells

The next time we went, we intended to go 15 miles. Still being a very amateur hiker/trail runner, I picked the Skyline Trail in the Blue Hills Reservation because it was easily marked in the app I found on my phone and was about 12 miles long. Seemed not too bad and I thought we'd get some hills. We did... and got some great views.

View from Eliot Tower

View of Boston from Eliot Tower

However, the trail was super tough and rocky. At one point, I wasn't paying attention and fell pretty hard. I tripped at just the right spot so there was a large rock beneath my left knee... so my knee just slammed straight into it. After the shock wore off, I was able to keep running, even though my knee was swelling a bit and both knees were bleeding. However, we met our end when my friend rolled her ankle during a misstep running downhill. Luckily she was able to keep walking and we just took a short cut back to the parking lot. I looked worse at first, but I ended up being the lucky one... she hasn't been able to run the past few days because her ankle has been turning all sorts of crazy colors.

What happens when you don't look where you're going when trail running

Have we learned our lesson though? ABSOLUTELY NOT. As soon as we're both back from vacation, we're going right back out. And I can't wait.

Run To Remember Half Recap: KILLED IT

That went infinitely better than I thought it would. I didn't get quite enough sleep, but when I woke up, I was excited and feeling good. I was planning on doing around 10 minute miles and felt like that was a good speed that I could keep up (and would cut five minutes off my time). Then I didn't keep with my planned pace...

Because I went a lot faster. I not only PR'd my half marathon, I also PR'd my 10K. I was really worried I went too fast out of the gate and wouldn't be able to keep it up, but I just kept feeling great. I decided to only do every other walk interval (ending up with a 7:1 run:walk) except for miles 9-12, when I did 3:1. I was able to do 6 out of 13 miles at a sub 9min/mile pace. I finished in 2:00:37, almost a full 15 minutes faster than my last one. I did a 9:12 pace, 1:08 faster than my last per mile, and 13 sec per mile faster than the Freedom Run 5K just last year.

I didn't actually win this race... but I sure as hell felt like I did! I finished in the top 40% in my division and top 41% overall.

Figuring Out A Training Plan

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to do a Hal Higdon plan to train up for a marathon. However, I realize that, with my race schedule, I needed to change it to fit my needs. I also had to make sure I wasn't going up in mileage by more than 10% in any given week (generally every other week). I also wanted a plan that I could realistically keep increasing (at that same slow rate) to train up for an ultra. Sometimes the distances are a bit wacky because I have a 5K that weekend, which is definitely a shorter distance than my normal weekend runs. With this plan, I'm also planning that a majority of my half marathons will actually just be at training pace, not race pace. Which I think will be good if I get in that mentality of not trying to go nuts on race day. Here's my plan... interested in any comments anyone has:

Running plan from May 30 to November 13

Ok, Now I'm Addicted To River Runs

Since I put a pause on my gym membership (only til June 13), I can finally run before work. Yesterday I did my normal boring MIT to Harvard and back run (~4 miles), but today I upped my game and ran along the Esplanade, which was SORTA BEAUTIFUL.

I did 6 miles, but severely underestimated how far it was to get back when I turned around, so I ended up having to do a few loops. Now I know better!

I think I'm going to start on a marathon training plan. I really like to stay on an actual plan and, right now, I'm just sort of running whatever I want between races. Not the best decision. I decided to go with Hal Higdon's Novice 2 marathon training program. Free and starts with where I'm at right now. I might have to start getting up earlier to do some of these runs, but I'm really looking forward to it! I also just bought a Nathan Intensity hydration pack when I realized this morning that my little water bottle would not get me through long summer runs. I'll follow up with a review!

Running In London

I was in London for the past week and definitely tried to take advantage of it. I ended up running a lot because there were pretty great paths on both sides of the Thames. I ended up doing a total of 33.5 miles and felt pretty great. I also went to workout with Project Awesome London on Friday. They were an awesome group! Definitely live up the name.

We were doing sprints up and down Primrose Hill, doing exercises in between. It was definitely a bit rough because I don't really run hills that often (and I had to run 3 miles to get there). The best part was that the hill gave a great view of the London skyline.

If you're in London, I highly recommend hanging out with them. They were seriously so much fun.

Trail Running

I did a trail run with TARC in the Blue Hills in Milton, MA on Saturday. We went for 7 miles up and down the hills, then a few of us did an extra two miles around the lake. I recently got a pair of Salomon Speedcross 3s to use during Ragnar New England and decided that I needed to break them in (and also start running some trails so I could get used to the hills that I don't encounter in Somerville). I found TARC, had a free Sunday, and decided to join. It was so much fun. If you live in the Boston metro area and are interested in trail running, I would absolutely suggest you join. They did a great job of making sure everyone stayed together (the faster folks would stop and wait up for everyone to catch up) and were just a great group overall. Plus the Blue Hills were great to run in. The hills were great - tough, but not impossible - and the trails were well marked. It was seriously the most fun I've had on a run in a while. And I'm also super sore today! Which is pretty rare coming off a run...

View fullsize

View from the top of Buck Hill (you can sorta see Boston if you look slightly left of center)

Recovery

My blog has been pretty quiet because I haven't really had much to report. I went to Crossfit last week, but I mostly rowed a lot and did a ton of substitutions to go easy on my knees. This week, I'm trying to get back into it. Today I did the following WOD as prescribed and completed 237 total reps:

Tabata 16
(:20 on :10 off)

Box jumps (24/20)
Sit ups
Wall balls
Burpees

As for running, I've got a gait analysis scheduled for Saturday so I can make sure that I'm running correctly. I've also been reading a lot and I think I need to stop being focused on my time and just enjoy my runs. With that in mind, I went on a 6 mile run yesterday, switched up my intervals to 3:1, and slowed down significantly. It went pretty well, but my knee still started hurting around mile 4. I definitely need to get over this hump and get back into actually having enjoyable runs.

Providence Half Marathon Recap

Well, that... went. I got a cold Wednesday night and by Thursday night I had a fever. My fever broke on Friday, but my throat was super scratchy and my voice was pretty much gone (still is). On the upside, my plantar fasciitis seemed to be going away. Day of, I got up early, ate, stretched, rolled out, so I thought I was ready. Apparently not the case.

I haven't had knee issues in a while, but I started dealing with runner's knee during mile 2. I pushed through, trying to be grateful that I wasn't really coughing or sniffling. I managed to do the first 7 miles at mostly under 10 minutes per mile. I slowed down a bit for the next four, doing about 10:40/mile. I picked it up and ran the last 2.1 miles straight. The rest of the race, I actually managed to stick with my run:walk intervals. Despite being passed by the 2:15 pacer very early on in the race, I managed to finish at 2:15:18, which is 7 minutes faster than my training run. I wasn't able to talk at all when I finished because my voice was gone and I'm not 100% sure that I don't have bronchitis. One month to recover and figure out what went wrong and do better next time!

The Pains of Taking a Break

Sure, I also still have actual pains in my feet, but what I'm really talking about is not getting the stress relief that comes with a good run. Normally, if I'm really stressed out or angry, I just go on a run and I end up feeling better afterwards. Right now, I don't have that option and it's really hurting me in a different way.

Camping? Plus Track + OMG SO MANY DOUBLE UNDERS

I've been out for a few days because I have been at RailsCamp, tucked away in the Catskills with little internet. Doesn't mean I didn't exercise! I ran up to the reservoir twice with two different groups of people. 3.6 miles roundtrip and about 200' of hills which I was not used to. But the end view was awesome!

View of the reservoir

I also got to do 4 miles of hiking each day, ended up getting sort lost twice, but it all ended well. Once it ended with waterfalls!

We were definitely not really supposed to be here... but the view was awesome!

In the crossfit world...

Tuesday I did deadlifts and did 4x3@200#. That's definitely the most I've done at that weight and it felt pretty easy. And thanks to losing 20lbs, it's now 1.5x my body weight! We also did rowing, sandbag pulls, and ring rows. I thought the sandbag pulls would take more out of me since I picked a pretty heavy one, but it was the ring rows that really got to me.

Today (Wednesday), we just did one 15 minute WOD. It was a beast:

AMRAP 15
100 Mountain climbers
30 Sit ups
30 Kettlebell swings (1.5/1)
30 Wall ball (20/14)
100 Double unders
**Every 2:00 do 2 power cleans (185/135) starting at 0:00

I whipped through everything until I got to the double unders... then it all went to hell. I spent probably about 6 minutes or more on the double unders alone. But I did finish them all! I did single-single-double... over and over again until I got to 100. I should also note that I only did 65# on the power clean. My max is 100#, but I really wanted to keep my heart rate up and not get sloppy with a super heavy weight for me. Then around 3pm today, I did a track workout which was 7x800m w/ 1:00 rest. Kept up about an 8:30 pace, which was about what I was shooting for. Basically, it's a good day.

14 Miles: Done

This was my last long training run. I spent 20 minutes taping up my feet and my knees and I think it paid off. At no point was I limping (though I was pretty slow for a few miles). I set a new PR for distance and pace for distances over 10 miles. I finished 13.1 in 2:22:17 and finished the whole 14.15 in 2:34:37 at a pace of 10:56 min/mile. Considering how sore I was when I started, I'm feeling pretty confident that I can hit my goal of 2:10 come race day... maybe even sub 2! Considering I did my full marathon in 5:55 6.5 years ago, I'm feeling pretty damn amazing about these times.

Woo TUESDAY!

I swear I worked out yesterday, but it was so unmemorable that I forgot to even write about it just a little. Today on the other hand... I felt like a total boss. I'm giving a presentation at Boston Product tonight, so I had to shift my day an hour later and go to the 6:30am class instead of my normal 5:30am (yup, I'm a morning person). This meant I was able to see how many rounds everyone in the 5:30am class got and push myself to DESTROY EVERYONE. I feel like I should make a note here: Crossfit really works for me because I am pretty competitive. Mostly with myself, but sometimes I also just really want to try to be the best. This is why running also works... am I the fastest? No. But can I constantly compete with myself and improve my times? Yes! Plus, races are awesome. Anyway, here was our WOD from this morning:

1-2-3-4-5-6… for 15 min
Box jumps (24/20)
Wall balls (20/14)
KBS (24kg/16kg)

I was wearing my sweet new Physiclo pants and my quads were burning from the lunges that I did yesterday, but I managed to get out 12 + 8 (which would be up to 12 of each + 8 box jumps), as prescribed (RX!). Beat the other highest person by 5 reps! I was super winded afterward and took a minute to stop wheezing, but all was well in the end.

Since I was having a long workday and also missing my track workout, I decided to head over to the MIT outdoor track at 2pm and just do the workout myself. I ended up doing a 9:51 average pace (including the walking rests), which ended up being my fastest pace for distances between 4-6 miles! And that was wearing my favorite new exercise pants. If you live in the Boston area, I highly recommend checking out the Somerville Road Runners Tuesday Night Track. It's really well run and the workouts have helped me increase my 5K time by minutes.

End note: just in case you were wondering, I get paid by absolutely none of the companies or organizations that I linked. I just love them.

11 Mile Run + OHS PR

Today has been pretty interesting. We've got pretty crappy weather all weekend, so I decided to do my long run today. And due to impending rain, I decided to just go this morning. Of course, first, I had some overhead squats to do. Might sound like a weird thing to do, but I've been working really hard on my shoulder positioning lately and didn't want to miss the chance for a retest. I just looked through all my old PRs and I had never gotten over 50# at my old gym. Today, I did a one rep max of 85#. Considering I had a shoulder impingement (in both my shoulders) last May, I'm feeling really great about that improvement. Obviously part of the credit is mine, but I feel like a solid amount of credit belongs to the awesome trainers at my gym, Crossfit Somerville. They, more so than any other gym of which I have been a member, have done an great job of helping me improve my form and keep me from further injuring myself (something I excel at).

Speaking of injuring myself... I made it through my 11 mile run! It got a bit rough the last two miles... my plantar fasciitis started acting up a bit, which ended up making my knee hurt a bit. Luckily, I taped it up, so I think it lasted a bit longer than it would have otherwise. I would think this would be bad news, but considering the same thing happened at mile 7.5 two weeks ago, so I'm pretty happy that I felt good up to mile 10 here.

Track Workout And Hanging From A Rope

Truth: I've had a rough few weeks. First, I got a new pair of sneakers that weren't quite right and I ended up getting some plantar fasciitis. Joy. Then my knee started hurting a bit. Which brings me to last night. I was doing cruise intervals at about a 8:30 pace and I ended up having to stop halfway through the last one because my knee felt weird. I'm working from home today, so I ran to crossfit this morning and had another knee twinge. But I had no problem doing wall balls and squats? Ugh. This is pretty frustrating.

My crossfit workout was a 5x5 set of deadlifts (kept it on the lighter end and ended at 165#) and then 5 rounds of: 10 wall balls (14#), 10 rope knees to elbows, and 30sec overhead hold (55#). The rope KTE got me more than I thought. Since the hang is different, I ended up using my biceps more than on regular KTE.

The real bonus of working from home is that today I got to feed my addiction to Kodiak Power Cakes and make myself some pancakes for breakfast. Delicious :D

Normally I'd do a run around 3pm today, but I think I'm going to take it easy. We'll see how tomorrow goes!