~Philadelphia Marathon 11/23/08~

[Mouse Skywalker]

Happy Monday!!

I thought I was off to a great morning with 4.5 miles on the TM feeling real good. Then I went and got myself into a car accident on some black ice so it went downhill real fast

Luckily no one was hurt, my car only has a blown tire and the fence I took out was made of rotten wood so I am hoping I won't have to file a claim. I did have to call the police to fill out a report and tow my car. There was a nice lady who saw the whole thing and I think she was more shook up than I was . I was consoling her .

Whoa Sara that is really scary. I'm so glad you're OK.

 

[rKyDeX]

Mike, Kathy, Dave and Tracy are in the background of this you tube video from MCM 2007:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyJ3_xH1Iho

 

[Jodi]

Link - That's too cool!! . It seems so long ago, doesn't it?? WTG on all those miles! You'll be ready for Goofy no problem...oh wait, you're doing the Dopey, right?

Sara - Glad you feel ok this am , I was hoping there'd be no ill effects of the a.m. crash! A little time on the dreadmill & some yoga sounds ok post trauma , give it a rest for now. I'm not sure what I'm doing on Sat., I think 16 miles - it's gonna be super cold on Sat! . Today it was about 55 - gotta love New England! BTW, I got my program on Sat. Maybe cause your name begins w/ R???

Cindy - Welcome Home!! Glad the trip was enjoyable, even though the airlines had fun w/ your luggage . Hey, that Turkeky Day run is definitely a PR, nice times!! And yeh, Mike's right, you work way too long hours! Watcha got on tap for this weekend???

Colleen - Nice job on maintaining that pacing thread! .

Dave - Glad you were able to get some running done. I think that's why I sign up for races - 'cause without a reason, there's not much that's gonna get me out the door in the a.m.

Got up this a.m. (way after 4 a.m., Sara) & ran a cheesy 4 miles. It was warm, I was slow, that's all there is to tell. Also, I feel a little , just a stuffy head thing, but annoying none the less. Just a quick drive by, gotta go finish making dinner, then DS & I are going to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" . See you guys tomorrow!

 

[Jodi]

Is anyone out there?

 

[rKyDeX]

I'm here.

I had my first run in the rain last night. It started sprinkling about 1/2 mile from the house and started pouring between 1 and 2 miles. Steady drizzle for the remainder of the 5 miles. Boy, my shoes sure get heavy when they are soaked. Averaged 10:15 for 5 miles. Tonight I've got to try and get another 5 in after DS's Varsity soccer game.


Healthy training to all,

Chester
W.I.S.H. Half-Fast Missing Link Marathon Team

 

[lourodrigis]

I kicked out a couple of 5-miles runs this week. One in Philly by the Art Museum and on the TM last night. It's been a little tough to get motivated, post Philly marathon, but I forced myself to get the runs in. I figure I need to work myself back into a groove before Disney. The cold weather and short days make it a little harder to train...as do the holidays. Someone told me that the hardest part about Disney was maintaining the training throughout December and I can now see why. How do you guys do it?

Lou

 

[Optimator]

Good morning everyone.

Busy, busy, busy. It's a tough time of year, isn't it?

Lou - Glad your feeling pretty good. It is tough training thru December but the good thing is that it keeps the holiday eating guilt down some.

Chester - WTG keeping at it in the rain. Think of it as weight training for your legs flopping around in the heavy shoes! How is your son's training going? Is he doing any LR's?

Hey to everyone else!

My running schedule has been all messed up this week. I've gotten pretty much all my miles in so far but I'm not sure where I'm gonna squeeze 18 miles in this weekend. DD11's dance company has 2 parades on Sat and Sunday's weather is supposed to be crappy. We'll see.

 

[Jodi]

Mike - Yes, busy, busy, busy...my mind hasn't been on running much, although I'm getting the miles in, & some CT to boot. Perhaps split your 18 miler up into to 2 parts this weekend?? . We're supposed to get snow/sleet on Sun afternoon, too. Good luck & have fun at those parades .

Lou - Nice way to keep up the motivation so soon after your marathon. Go easy, I hear it's easy to get injured running big miles so soon after a marathon .

Chester - Um, I don't run in the rain...it makes me melt . Seriously, though, way to stick it out @ a nice stady pace. I'll be bugging you soon about the heart rate stuff, as I ordered, uh, I mean DH ordered a Garmin 305 the other day! I'm going to use all it's features...I mean, I plan to anyway. We'll see how hard it is to work .

Everyone else ok? Busy shopping, decorating, kids-ing, no doubt. I've decided to run 18 tomorrow...seems like the right thing to do. It's going to be COLD, about a high of 32 with lots of wind...whooopeeee! Wish me luck!

 

[lourodrigis]

Mike - Good luck on the 18-miler this weekend.

Jodi - I hear you on melting in the rain. I am not one to run in rain, especially this time of year. Of course they are predicting bad weather (rain/sleet/snow) this Sunday for my LR. I also hear you on taking it easy post marathon. I actually feel pretty good right now and would like to stay injury free until Disney. If that means being careful with the LR's so be it.

I ran 8 miles today in 1:11. It was cold but I really do not get too bothered by cold as much as rain/sleet/snow. I'm trying to stay below 9-min miles so that I get used to that pace. I'm hoping to run a better time at Disney then 4:33 so I want to work on running a good pace on these shorter training runs.

I still have a slight groin pull but I think I can work that out with some stretching. I may even try yoga.

 

[SilverE]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't posted in a while; I've been in a low motivation funk. I did run 10 miles yesterday (on the treadmill ) I was going to follow that up with 8 miles today: you know, that back-to-back Goofy Challenge training thing, but my foot was sore, so I decided to cross-train by hanging all the outside holiday lights on the house .

Step-back week for me, so no long run this weekend. Good luck to all on the LRs this weekend!

Happy and healthy training.

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Hi everyone! I've been reading through the posts that I have missed. Glad that everyone had a good Thanksgiving and by the lack of posts, it seems that everyone is pretty busy right now.

I'm back from Kansas City (actually got back at 10:10 on Thursday night, followed by a crazy day at work yesterday, followed by a friend's 39th birthday party where she insisted that everyone stay out really late to celebrate her last year in the 30's). I seemed to have picked up a nasty head cold, probably on the plane home from San Diego and am finally starting to feel better, but I was feeling pretty miserable all week and the plane rides to and from Kansas City were terrible - my head was so congested that I couldn't clear my ears - glad that's over.

Confession time - I haven't run since the 5k on Turkey Day. I feel kind of bad about it, but with how busy I have been and with not feeling well, perhaps it was for the best. I'm going to take today as another rest day and try to run tomorrow, maybe ten miles or so? I am kind of bummed that we didn't make time to run in San Diego. Lately, I've been kind of bored with running the same routes over and over, so a change of location would have been nice. Maybe I'll drive somewhere to run tomorrow rather than running from home (we actually live at the start of miles and miles of bike trails but I just feel like I've run all of them in every direction so many times).

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was busy walking 17 miles!

I did it and actually get the same high I felt the first time I ran 17 miles! Very interesting feeling that I have accomplished something brand new.

That's exciting - I happy for you that you got to have that feeling again!

AWESOME, WTG Colleen. I was up at 5am yesterday for my LR, and once again didn't make it out the door. Oh no, I'm losing my fitness. I have all kinds of excuses for why I didn't run, but that's what they are just excuses. I need to find something to train for (before Philly that is) before I totally retreat back to the couch.

I'm feeling the same way. I need to have something to train for. I was going to run a 10k next weekend, but for various work reasons, I've decided to bag it. There is a 10k the following weekend (Rudolph's Red Nose 10k - gotta love the holiday names) that I'm thinking about shooting for. I will officially start training for the National Half in Jan, but the training plan DH has devised for us suggests that you be running 25 miles a week before you start, so I've got to keep up some running.

Cindy - Welcome back! Great job on the pseudo-PR. Sorry you had baggage recovery issues. What kind of work do you do? Whatever it is, you work too hard! . . .

My 5 miles turned into 9+ yesterday. I went out to the battlefield to do a little trail running and followed the briddle trail. Lots of ups and downs and maniacal (sp?) squirrels . My knees were achey and my feet hurt, but it was lots of fun.

So my 8 today will turn into 5 and all will be well.

Have fun everyone.

I work for a law firm.

The trail run sounds like fun. I'm actually thinking about maybe trying some trail races in the spring or next fall. There is a trail race series - called Backyard Burn - in Northern VA with about 4 or 5 5 and 10 mile races in the spring and again in the fall. I think it might provide a nice change of pace. DH and I like going the the MD side of Great Falls and hiking the trails there, and switching hiking for some trial training runs sounds like a good idea to me.

Good luck to everyone on the long runs this weekend. Jodi and Mike - did you get your 18 milers in?

Steve - hope the lights hanging goes well. DH and I are going to try to dig the tree out of the closet this weekend - hopefully we can find it under all the other junk we've shoved in there!

Sara - I'm happy to hear that things seem to have worked out ok after the accident.

Lou - glad you are still feeling good post - marathon!

Chester - Nice job of sticking it out in the rain. I hope it wasn't too cold. The thought of running in the cold rain makes me cringe. I think I'm going to have to join the gym so that I will have a back up plan (treadmill) for when the weather is terrible.

I suppose I should get back to work - working from home today for a few hours. At least I'm not in the office!

 

[Jodi]

This is a drive by post & it's all about me, me, me !!! Started out to run 18 today, but my Garmin crapped out after 4 miles...so I figured, ok, I'll just run 3 hours, works out to 18 miles @10 mms, I should be able to swing that. But then the wind kicked my a**, like 30 mile an hour gusts & 30 w/o the wind chill. The cold didn't bother me so much, but running in place sucked . I ended running about 15 mins. shy of 3 hours, I just couldn't handle the wind anymore. So I just stopped. I looked on that mapping thing for the USATF website & it said that I ran 16 miles, but I'm saying it's 17 'cause those measurements are only straight lines & there are curves out there . So that's it, I'm declaring a 17 mile run, everyone, please buy into it. Thank you!

 

[SilverE]

I ended running about 15 mins. shy of 3 hours, I just couldn't handle the wind anymore. So I just stopped. I looked on that mapping thing for the USATF website & it said that I ran 16 miles, but I'm saying it's 17 'cause those measurements are only straight lines & there are curves out there . So that's it, I'm declaring a 17 mile run, everyone, please buy into it. Thank you!

Jodi: I'm impressed you got the miles in! It was 22 degrees here yesterday morning; so I knew it must also be cold in CT. Nice job I have to get a 20-miler in at the end of this week; I hope it warms up a little.

I hope everyone else is enjoying some warmer miles.

 

[princessmomma]

But then the wind kicked my a**, like 30 mile an hour gusts & 30 w/o the wind chill.

Ooh, Jodi, I hate that kickin' wind too! Luckily we don't get the wicked wind here, at least nothing like up on the Canadian prairies. Good job on the 17!

Steve, good luck on your 20 miler!

Cindy, I needed a good long break after my marathon too, that lovin' feeling will be back before you know it!

Lou, take care of that groin pull. Those are so troublesome, so I hear!

Mike, Chester, what kind of mileage did you guys get in this weekend?

Sara, how are things? They are crazy, buzy around here, so I can't imagine the load you have on your plate.

As for training, this was a fall back week for me, and I went out for a nice easy 9 mile walk/ruun. I ran 0.5 mile/walk 0.5 mile, which I really liked. I was running around 9:30's and walking around 14 minute miles, so I finished in a decent run/walk time! I can definitely feel my knee when I run and last night I had to iice it a bit, but I am feeling quite fine today! There is hope, weather permitting that I can bring in a sub 5:59 marathon!

 

[msblrobs]

Colleen - Nice job on the 9-miler !! That is a great run/walk time and I know you'll conquer your marathon goal. Glad your knee is feeling fine today.

Jodi - You rock girl !! I'd definitely swear to 17 miles for you if I had to. I know the wind was howling here yesterday which is why I did my 8 on the treadmill.

Cindy - Glad to see you're home safe and sound and that your head cold is finally starting to get better. Don't sweat not running for a bit. You'll be back out there before you know it. Speaking of 39, Dave's 39th is this month and my 39th is next month .

Lou - I love yoga and practice daily but I have to say at times it aggravates my groin . I think it's the crescent pose that does it to me so just be careful. Yoga is awesome for stretching and flexibility

Mike - I hope you were able to squeeze a run in this weekend. All I have to say is I was at your post to Judy on the main thread with the body glide and the mattress.

Chester - Sorry about the run in the rain.

Dave - I hope you're doing okay .

My company holiday party was this weekend - it's an overnight thing. We had a really good time. I did manage to get in my 8 miles before I left. My leg is still not happy and I think we're going to be duking it out until 1/13. I just want to bang out my last two 20-milers and get onto the taper . I am also struggling with low back/sciatic issues and I am having trouble sleeping with the hip/back pain. I know I need to resign myself to the total rest idea sometime here before I get permanently injured.

Happy training to all this week .

 

[Optimator]

Hey Folks!

Cindy - Hope you're feeling better. I also hope a change of scenery will spice your running up a little. I have to admit that I'm usually too lazy to actually drive somewhere to run. I hit the Garmin button before I'm out of our 30 foot long driveway, counting the miles.

Colleen - It's great that your honing in on a run/walk interval that works for you (and your knee). I'm sure you'll reach your pace goal.

Sara - An overnight holiday party? Wow, that sounds like some shindig. Good job on the 8 before you went. Are you sure you should do 2 x 20 milers? Not for me to decide, but... BTW, as long as Judy keeps providing good material, I'll be happy to take advantage.

Dave - How's it going? Pop your head in here so we know everything's O.K. Not sure if you saw on the other thread but I am quite sure I'm doing Cleveland in late May. Book it with Cool Aunt.

Jody - You just tell us how many miles you ran and we will take you at your word. You've never lead us wrong before, right? I do hate those big winds that alway blow right in your face, no matter which way you run! Good job on the big miles!

Chester - Still running?

Lou - One word for the groin pull if it's still bothering you: massage!

Steve - I'm sure the weather will cooperate. It is absolutely ridiculous what a short time ago it was when we were all moaning about how hot it was! What the heck happened to a happy medium?

All right, enough about you. Let's talk about me .

Friday: Went to the gym with DW for some XT with the weight machine circuit. That was fun until a couple of sweet old ladies jumped in and seemed baffled by the circular nature of the "circuit". They were happy lolligagging around and criss-crossing every which way. The weights and core training paid immediate dividends. Came home and went on a smokin' 5 miler. Negative splits with my last mile a personal fastest. Lots of fun!

Saturday: No running as it was Parade Day. Froze my behind off with the rest of the family watching DD11 dance in the local parade. Came home, ate a little lunch then went for parade #2 and hour away. Just me and DD11 for this one since it started at 5:30 and it wasn't getting any warmer. It wasn't too windy so not too cold but they were almost at the very end of the parade so it was a long wait. My tootsies were a bit chilled, but overall pretty good. DD11 had a great time so it was all worth it.

Sunday: No way in heck I was getting up early to run, so I wisely waited until it started raining to try to tackle 18 miles. Did I mention it was about 40 degrees? And raining? And 3:30 and already seemingly getting dark? And I'm an idiot? Well, I got in 15+ miles at which point being done was WAY more important that running a few more miles. I'm not sweating it. Happy to have done anything today and that's that.

Take care everyone!

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Cindy, I needed a good long break after my marathon too, that lovin' feeling will be back before you know it!

Colleen - I sure hope you are right! Great job on the run/walk pace!

Jodi and Mike - Congrats on finishing those runs. They sound miserable. There is nothing worse than cold wind, cold rain, and darkness (ok, maybe 100 degrees and humid is actually worse, but at least that doesn't make you feel like curling up under a blanket instead of running!)

Sara - I'm with Mike on this one - maybe only one 20 miler is enough? As you said, you want to minimize the chance of any permanent injury. My birthday is actually next month too - on the 18th (DH's is the 19th). I will be celebrating the beginning of the 30's (and DH is 2 years older).

As for my return to running this weekend, I don't know what else to say other than it was terrible. I felt as if I hadn't run in a year and a half instead of just a week and a half. I don't even know how to explain it - nothing was specifically wrong, it was just so hard. I had thought that I would run 10 miles when I left the house, but I really, really wanted to quit after about 5 minutes, so I forced myself to run 4 miles out, thus requiring the 4 mile return to get in 8 miles. The only good thing I can say is that I finished 10 minutes before it started raining (sorry Mike) so at least I didn't get wet.

Instead of overanalyzing it (as I would normally do), I'm just going to try to forget about this run. I'm taking today as a rest day and then I will try a short 3 or 4 mile run tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will feel more normal by then.

 

[rKyDeX]

Jodi
I'm going to use "Jodi" math on on my Sunday LR. When I went to strap on my Garmin, I got a "low battery" warning. It was already 8am, and I was planning on being out for 3.5 hours/18 miles. So, I decided to postpone for 2 hours while Garmin recharged.

Then I decided to run "naked" (without Garmin). Since I was already loaded to go, I looked up last week's 16 miler path and mentally added approximately 2 miles to it. I finally left the house at 8:30a. 65 degrees and 95% humidity.

I finished my planned run, but it was a hot one. My legs and arms got sunburned. Reviewing my run on "Map My Run" it looks like I probably only did 17.5 miles. But, I think I'm going to round it up to 18.

Steve
Good luck on your upcoming 20 miler. I wish I could send some of our warmth up to you. I'm dreading the 20 miler I've got scheduled for 12/23.

Colleen
Last weekend was a 9 miler averaging 9:59 and an 18 miler averaging 11:40.
Keep track of your intervals to find a magic pace. But remember, it can be a long walk to the finish if you push your knee too hard too early. Hopefully you will have enough oppurtunities to find the right pace and right interval to finish healthy.

Sara
Actually, running in the rain wasn't that bad. The temperature was fine. I just wish that I was wearing a visor to help keep some of the rain off my glasses. I couldin't tell which was worse, looking through rain spotted glasses, or looking over the glasses and not being able to see.

FWIW, I changed my schedule to take out one of my 20 mile runs. I'm still going to be running nearly the same total distance by adding the difference to a scheduled 12 miler and adjusting the weekday runs.

Mike
Still running. Although, for some reason, I have missed all my Thursday evening runs since MCM. I seem to be in better "alignment" then when I was training for MCM. I used to take about 2 miles until everything warmed up and fell into place. Lately I have felt balanced as soon as I leave the driveway. Maybe my ChiChi is working.

Cindy
Bad runs, like good runs are part of the game. Sometimes they can't be explained or rationalized. Once they're done, they're done. Put them behind you. Sunday I had a long run that was dragging. I found that if I focused on the ground just in front of my feet, and only glanced up occasionally, that time and distance went by a whole lot faster. Of course though, I was running long stretches in the country with very little traffic. I couldn't use this diversion in an urban setting.



Healthy training to all,

Chester
W.I.S.H. Half-Fast Missing Link Marathon Team

 

[Jodi]

Hey Peeps!! Glad to see that everyone's "back".

Dave? - Except for YOU Come back...Hey, when's your b'day?

Chester - Are you kidding me??? You definitely ran 18 miles!! Prolly 19 the way I figure it . Don't be sending any of that humidity & heat up here! I'll take the 25 degrees & wind over that anytime! It's nice to run without the Garmin sometimes, isn't it??

Cindy-Lou-Who - Don't worry about that feeble run - I've had a LOT of those since MCM, as you've read. Sat.'s 17 was the first time I've done any real distance without feeling totally fatigued & aggrevated...and get this, I took a completely different route, one I've never done b4 . Go figure...I didn't drive anywhere, just ran a different way & I must say, I think you've got that right idea about that, it was quite refreshing to have a change of scenery. Let us know how you make out tomorrow.

Colleen - I'm so glad you were able to get in a walk/run interval funk goin' on. How do you feel 2 days after? Any bad side effects? I'm hoping you can continue this for 1/13 & enjoy your marathon!

Sara - WOW, that party sounds pretty intense! All the office parties I've ever been to take place @ the local bar & everyone ends up having fun with people they normally despise . Um, TWO 20 mile runs?? Apparently you had too much egg nog @ said party & it's left some residual damage! I, like you, need to take a break after Jan. b4 serious burnout occurs! You have a b'day coming up? Do tell....

Steve - It should warm up for you by the end of the week, is this 20 miler your last long run?

Lou - I must agree with Mike, self-massage is the key to most injuries !

Took the day off yesterday. I ran for an hour on the dreadmill @ the gym today. Didn't feel like dealing w/ the black ice that's cropped up in the area in the last 24 hours. I hated it, but it's over now. I think I'm going to run tomorrow afternoon, as it'll be more black ice in the early a.m.

Well, time for my weekly shower, I'll check in later!!

 

[Optimator]

Lou - I must agree with Mike, self-massage is the key to most injuries !

Self-massage? Self-massage? I believe there has been some misinterpretation.

Chester - Great job on your 22 miles ! Good to hear your ChiChi is all groovy (although according to Jodi, we males can only be pretending since the fairer sex has cornered the market on feeling it).

JoJo - An hour on the TM? I'm impressed. I didn't think you had the patience for such nonsense. I did 45 minutes on the TM this AM and I know that I'm not relishing the idea of much more than that.

I agree about changing routes and such. I almost always run the same direction. Every once in a while I'll go the opposite way. I find it mildly annoying to realize that the flats are actually downhills and the hills aren't nearly so steep. This perspective can only be gained when you are running the same road in the opposite direction.

Cindy - Don't worry about the struggles. Some days are just that way. I am glad you stayed dry.

Sara - It looks like the early returns are in and the 2 x 20 mile schedule has lost the election.


As mentioned above, I did 5 miles on the TM this AM. The wind was blowing compact cars around and just didn't feel like dealing with it. Then I did a few weight circuits and headed home.

Schedule says 8 miles for Tuesday but I doubt I'll get that done due to schedules and stuff. I'm kind of at the "don't really care" stage right now so any miles will be just fine.

Toodles!