Coaching tips revisited

The year was 2002, I was turning 50, and I was preparing for my 5th Boston Marathon. I decided I wanted to run a good one - a really good one - and that I'd need some new tricks in my bag in order to pull it off. I hired a fellow I knew in New York who had recently decided to leave his day job to go into coaching full-time. The results were excellent!

Neil is a fan of hills (as am I) and one of the new tricks he taught me involved hill drills for form and strength. To do hill drills, one finds a hill that's about 1/4 mile long, and goes up that hill first bounding (return to the bottom), then skipping (return), then with high knees. After each drill up, run about 1/4 mile at the top, run lightly down, then go back up with the next drill. I was astounded by the jello-ish-ness of my legs at the top of each hill. And after doing the drills once or twice a week for a few weeks I was astounded at what a huge difference they made to my running - I was running stronger, taller, and with a more open stride.

Fast forward to 2007 when I'm trying to get ready for a summer of 180-mile weeks. Naturally I've been putting in a lot of miles. And my body says, naturally I'm getting lazier and lazier with my running. No zip, no pizzazz in the legs. When I noticed my body was increasingly hunching over as I ran (not entirely because of the cold, wind, and snow), I decided I'd better do something about it. Ah Hah! Hill drills! So yesterday I met up with AndyE at The Hill (there's a perfect hill drill hill in south Boulder) and we did 2 x bound, skip, and high knees. And got that good ol' jello feeling in the legs as we crested at the top.

After a 50 minute warmup, the drills and a 50 minute warmdown I stretched (obeying firm instructions from current coach Mark and massage therapist Holly), drank some chocolate soy milk (another of Neil's tricks), and got into a tub full of ice water - the highest level of water yet (over my hips). My original goal was to sit there long enough to drink the cup of coffee I'd made for myself. I drank that so fast I decided it would be way too wussy if I quit the ice bath then. The next goal was to stay in long enough for the next song on the radio to finish playing and/or when all the ice cubes had melted. The cubes disappeared first, and I lasted through the end of the song.

And afterward? Zippy, pizzazzy legs. Mission accomplished! Hill drills, stretching, and ice baths will continue to appear on the menu.

As for Boston 2002? Dream goal: 3 hours 45 minutes. Actual: 3 hours 46 minutes 33 seconds and my fastest marathon since Las Vegas 1995, my fastest Boston since 1992. Thank you Neil Cook!

Snow adventures

It snowed again in Boulder this weekend. Our Saturday gang still managed a pleasant run in the light fluffy stuff. (The picture shows some of the gang - AndyE, me, Joe - after a run on another recent wintry day...as you can see, there really is a lot of the white stuff in town these days.) The footing was pretty decent on trails and roads - and deceptively slick on concrete - so we chose our surfaces carefully and had but one tumble between all of us.

After the run, I trotted over to watch "The Best Cross-Country Race on the Planet" - a race that has been held the past few years as a tune up for xc nationals. I do believe this was the most difficult short-distance race I've ever seen. It was cold. It was snowing. The footing was extremely tricky and getting trickier as the race went on (chopped up snow and getting slick). And, for the men's race, the wind even picked up. Yet despite all that, those runners were flying! What a race to witness.

Today I tried my own little cross-country adventure. I was running to a neighboring town where I was to meet my husband and was following a little two-lane road that had a fair amount of traffic. I was approaching a trail head and decided I'd really rather be on trails than on a busy road with narrow shoulders, so off I went to the trail. The trick was, I was going to need to take a fairly new branch off the trail that in order to go in the direction I needed to go in. It was looking good for a while, there was a pretty decent track laid in the snow by a few skiers and hikers/runners as I climbed higher on the trail. Then I got to the branch - and saw exactly one ski track in the long expanse of thigh-deep snow that I'd have to traverse. So I turned around....and saw how high I had climbed and how steep it was to get back down to the trail head. Plan B (aka always have an exit strategy). I followed a different trail that I knew would take me around the mesa I was on and over to a less steep trail that I could follow down the hill to the trail head. This was a pretty good plan - except for the wind that had come up while I was climbing and that I was now running straight into. No sense in having a dull run through the snow, eh?! The run was fairly uneventful - just a couple of rolled ankles, a few slips and slides, and one plunge into a snow hole - until I got to the very last stretch. Lo and behold, there had been so much wind and drifting during the time I was running that the trail was completely obscured by snow. Ah well, I could see the trail head gate and just made a bee line for it....and was back to the road where I had started this snow adventure.

So my easy week has concluded. Only 50 miles, only one run per day. My body and spirit are refreshed and ready to rock and roll.

No shortcuts

I had a pretty good run today then stopped by to see my coach this afternoon to discuss aches & pains and strategies for dealing with them while continuing to train. I'm very lucky in that my coach is an exercise physiologist in addition to being an accomplished runner and coach. He poked my right leg, he poked my left leg, and he knew just what was wrong with each and pretty much why - a whole lot of snow running, no stretching and a bunch of miles. When we were talking about stretching I told him I was having a hard time transitioning from running as merely a hobby. His response was that "this is your job - and you cannot take shortcuts".

So! Time to leave the computer, go do another round of stretching and jump (well, jump might not be quite the right word) into an ice water bath. Woohoo!

drink. eat. run. drink. stretch. eat. drink. ice. rest. drink. stretch. run. drink. stretch. eat. drink. stretch ...

A new sensation

As mentioned yesterday, my body is rebelling a bit. So, today I ran just 4 miles with Jester dog (actually walked/jogged - walking on all the slippery snowy bumpy bits) . Often times after a run, I'll hose my legs down with cold water. Today I tried something different - more drastic. I filled the bathtub up with cold water and ice cubes and got in. Holy macaroni! Prior to getting in I had made a large cup of hot coffee. I made myself sit in the water long enough to finish the coffee. I never drank a cup of coffee so fast.

But I gotta tell you, the aches and pains aren't screaming so much now.

The body speaks out

Soooo..... the mileage - or something - seems to be catching up to me. The back of my right leg hurts (there's a clicky thing going on behind my knee, my ham and calf are tight), the front of my left leg hurts (lower quad and below the knee - sort of achy), my achilles - often tight and owie - are tight and owie, my feet are just plain tired. I went to see magic fingers Beggsy (massage therapist extraordinaire) today and she discovered that I'm way out of alignment; my right hip is 3/4 lower than my left. So she worked me over and I walked out of there moving a whole lot more smoothly than when I walked in there.

What brought all this on? Pretty much, I just blew it last week. Here I was logging the most miles of my life and I:
- didn't stretch
- only iced three times
- ran a whole lot of concrete
- post-holed my way through snowdrifts torquing my body every which way
- dropped in on a rec center core class and gave it my all after 3 months of no core work
and I haven't taken a day off since December 25th (the day my dad died).

The plan: stretch, back off the mileage this week, ice, choose my surfaces carefully, stretch carefully, watch my form while running, stretch, ice - and really pay attention to the cumulative effects of everything I'm doing.

...moving foward...with care...

Easy day. Whew!

This morning I hitched myself up to my dog and headed out into a light snow not knowing exactly where I was going to be running, but determined to run the 7.5 miles needed to achieve my 100-mile week. So we trotted through the neighborhood (Jester dog definitely leading the way cuz my legs were so so tired), then through the Bureau of Standards, then up a hill to the back of a neighborhood and onto a trail at the base of the NCAR hill, then down a hill and over to my fartlek course and ran that in the reverse of my usual fartlek loop direction for a while, then out onto a plowed road to make running a bit easier, then downhill through a neighborhood, criss-crossed through a shopping center, waited a real long time for traffic to clear so we could cross a street (church must've just let out), then through a pedestrian underpass (first hint of dry concrete all day), into our neighborhood park, out onto our unplowed roads and back home again. 8 miles. Easy easy pace. In fact, you could easily call it jogging and I wouldn't be at all offended. I do believe, given how tired my legs were at the start of this run and how good I felt by the end of the run, you might see me "jogging" quite a bit this summer - and - with a smile on my face!

Another long one

Perhaps this will be one of those days I draw on if I have a tough day during this summer's run. It was a slow slow run. No "gliding down the road" here - more like, clomp clomp clomp. But, the run is in the books now: 4 hours, 47 minutes and 25.5 miles.

It was actually a rather pleasant route. For those of you familiar with Boulder, I ran from my house in south Boulder out to the Rez, then east on Monarch, south on 79th, and east on Hwy 52 to Dacono. The Hwy 52 stretch is part of the first day's route on the way to Michigan.

Hero's award to my husband, Kendall, who met me about 20 miles into the run with a refill of Gatorade. (I had expected to come across a gas station for beverage refill and bathroom facilities - but no luck). He then went ahead and called back to let me know there was a McDonald's 2 miles ahead (where I could use the bathroom). And then he gave me a lift over the Interstate 25 overpass whose shoulders were piled high with snow leaving no place to run. And then he let me know just what to keep my eyes on so I'd know how close I was getting to Dacono. And then he took me out for a most delicious meal of Mexican food.

Best sighting of the day (besides the Gatorade refill): a magnificent bald eagle sitting grandly in a tree with the Continental Divide as his backdrop.

A Good Day

Good stuff happened today!

• Feeling a bit worn down, I decided to run easy this morning - the perfect excuse for running with Jester dog. He was one happy fella running around in CU's cross-country property and a very well-behaved dog on the leash when we ran through the snow-packed neighborhood roads. A very fine outing for all.
• I've got my day-by-day schedule mapped out for Iowa and Minnesota! If you'd like to take a look, the maps can be found at: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=646975 (for Iowa) and http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=649166 (for Minnesota). It looks like I'll be in Iowa from June 28 through July 2 and in Minnesota from July 2 through July 10. If any of you are familiar with either of those states, I'd love to hear your comments regarding the route! (By the way, thanks to all who recommended various mapping tools. gmap-pedometer seems to be working out quite well.)
• I ran three miles on the Rec Center treadmill tonight and set the speed at a pace much quicker than anything I've been doing on the roads lately. Kind of fun to get the knees lifting up. Major accomplishment (for this treadmill neophyte): I was actually able to run the last 10 minutes without holding onto the bar thingys (as long as I kept my eyes riveted to the little green button in front of me).
• And the big BIG news: Brooks called and said they'd be happy to help with this summer's journey and will be sending shoes and clothes! WeeeHawww!

Animals on parade

Since the big snows started rolling through Boulder, sightings of four-legged creatures have been rare: no coyotes, no foxes, no deer. However, there have been bunny rabbits. On the coldest, windiest, snowiest days, the mighty bunny could be seen out hip hopping about - quite the hearty winter beast.

Then, yesterday, while out running a trail near town, there was a string of verrrry tiny paw prints. And bingo! Out popped a mouse! Then in popped the mouse - into a hole in the snow left by a foot print - a veritable mouse cave. Then out popped the mouse and it skittered to the next foot print mouse cave. Another hearty winter beast.

Today's run included a march of purebreds along a favorite dog walking trail. First a German Shorthaired Pointer - all systems on alert just in case there was pointing to be done whilst on the run. Next a Great Dane whose head came up to my chest. Then a magnificent German Shepherd all muscles and smiles. The shepherd was followed by a woman with a Border Collie and a Golden Retriever on leashes. I met them as we stepped on a bridge from opposite ends. She called "Single file" to her dogs and my jaw dropped as I asked incredulously "They know how to do that?!" She grinned and said "Well, no - but we try."

I moved on past that trail and through a couple of neighborhoods, wound through a park and entered another neighborhood just in time to see a car coming down a road, followed by a gorgeous Akita, followed by a fellow with a leash calling for the Akita. The car turned, the Akita followed, the fellow continued to call (well, now it was more like yelling). I turned in the same direction as the car and saw it turn again up ahead, with the Akita still chasing after it. I looked behind me to see where the yelling fellow was; he was turning around and I figured he was going for his car to go chase after the Akita chasing after the first car. By the time I got to the last corner where I'd seen the car and the dog, the dog was running back. So I called it and turned to retrace our steps. He cocked his head, cogitated a moment and decided to follow. I kept playfully calling and it kept happily running alongside. When we got to the corner where I had first seen the chase transpire, the Akita hesitated, I said let's go, and it bounded towards a driveway - where the yeller greeted it, still yelling. I turned back around and discovered that a car that had paused at an intersection while the dog and I ran by had its front wheels jammed into a huge snow crevasse that crossed the intersection. I stopped to push, someone else came along to help push, and eventually the wheels broke free of the "Grand Canyon" as the other pusher referred to it.

Fun times running in Boulder these days!

A couple of running-particular side notes:

1. I finished my first run at 12:30 today (2.5 hours of running), finished eating lunch about 1:30 or so then went for my second run around 3:30. My legs were ready for the second run but my stomach was not. I'm going to have to work on that since the Big Run will involve a whole lot of run time with fairly short gaps for eating inbetween.
2. I'm tired. Probably the most bone tired I've been since starting this adventure. Perhaps it has to do with running 95 last week, no days off, and attempting to run 100 this week. Or perhaps it has to do with so much running in the snow and cold. Or..... In any case, paint me pooped.
   

Remarkable day

First: it was in the teens when I left for my run. Practically balmy! In less than two miles I was starting to shed layers. Glorious!

Second: 'Twas a quintessential Colorado blue sky sunshine day - with the result that I was actually running directly on pavement glowing amongst the snow along my route. Cruisin'!

Third: My first run of the day was from home to a restaurant rendezvous for lunch with my husband and brother (via a 9 mile 'scenic' route). My second run of the day was from the restaurant to home (a 3 mile rather more direct route). I figure that is a sampling of what my summer will be like: run-eat-run. I'd best get used to it!