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<\/p>\nI’ve now found the cure for a bad run.<\/p>\n
Good runs.<\/p>\n
I know, revolutionary, right?\u00a0 Who would have thought getting back on the horse and conquering some awesome runs would help me (\/sarcasm).\u00a0 But for some reason, my mental state about this marathon had me convinced that the awesome 20 was a fluke and I had lost it all and I was fucked and the sky was falling and I had to turn in my endurance athlete card and I may as well just hit the turn in for the half on Nov 11th because I suck.<\/p>\n
Dramatics, I know.\u00a0 But I was run-mopey and grumpy about it until I forced myself to put on my shoes a few days later and just RUN dammit.\u00a0 And it brought me out of my funk.\u00a0 My legs didn’t stop functioning, I didn’t stop enjoying a run, I had just had a bad day and needed to get the fuck over it.\u00a0 So I did 4 runs + 2 bikes over 3 days to get some miles in, all of which were solid, soul soothing, and I didn’t feel broken Thursday night when it was all over.\u00a0 This was good for Quix-brain.<\/p>\n
Being that I had made a comeback, I decided that my last long day of prep today had to be a good test of stupid brain.\u00a0 I was signed up for a 5k race and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that when I needed double digits.\u00a0 At first I thought I’d just jog it at marathon pace, but then I realized that would be missing a good opportunity.\u00a0 I remember doing 25 miles of bike hills after my last 5k race, and how much HARDER it was than on fresh legs.\u00a0 Why not test how harder it was to hold m-pace on completely blasted legs?<\/p>\n
Then I saw the weather.\u00a0 Fucking 40 degrees in the morning.\u00a0 I was not a happy Quix.\u00a0 I don’t like the cold.\u00a0 I am definitely not used to it, being this is the coldest it’s been since, oh, February.\u00a0 Oh well, out comes the cold weather gear.\u00a0 I was almost thankful for Alaska training because it wasn’t a COMPLETE shock to the system.\u00a0 But that didn’t mean I wasn’t a whiny little bitch about it.<\/p>\n
6:40am today.\u00a0 Cold.\u00a0 Dark.\u00a0 Hate. Grumble.\u00a0 Get out of bed anyway.\u00a0 More grumbling.\u00a0 Get on compression sox, pants, shoes, long sleeve hoodie shirt, jacket, gloves.\u00a0 Note that my last outdoor run Thursday was 84 and sunny.\u00a0 Grumble.<\/p>\n
7:20.\u00a0 Get out the door.\u00a0 Grumble and cuss.\u00a0 Walk just a little to get moving, and since I’m cold, get going.\u00a0 Grumble.\u00a0 Run run run.\u00a0 Hey, this could be worse.\u00a0 Run run run.\u00a0 Ok, this isn’t so bad.\u00a0 Run faster.\u00a0 Enjoy the first bit of sunrise.\u00a0 Unzip the jacket.\u00a0 Turn into wind.\u00a0 Zip up jacket.\u00a0 Think about the day to come, hope I have it in me.\u00a0 Run a little more and turn into the house. (3 miles – 36 mins, nice ez 12 min\/mi pace)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0 Go home, change shirt, bra, put on arm warmers, decide at last minute that I was bringing my jacket too, nom some cliff blocks (I didn’t eat before), and get going to the race.\u00a0 When I get there, do a mile and as I finish, it’s time to line up.<\/p>\n
My goal was to try to beat 29:16 from last year.\u00a0 Last year, I went out fast, blew up after 2 miles, and threw myself a pity party for my worst 5k finish time ever and gave up and whined until I got an email saying I was 1st in my age group.\u00a0 This year, I decided to try to run the opposite race.\u00a0 Start slower, accelerate, and then kick hard into the finish.<\/p>\n
National anthem played, horn sounded, and we got off (that’s what she said).\u00a0 Zliten actually got ahead of me and I let him go since I was holding at 9:30s.\u00a0 That was hard.\u00a0 I wanted to keep up with him.\u00a0 A bunch of people passed me.\u00a0 I let them.\u00a0 I stayed in my little zone.\u00a0 I knew what was to come – this nice little flat would turn into a monster soon enough.\u00a0 The only thing that broke my zone was the moment where my jacket, tied around my waist, fell off and almost tripped me.\u00a0 Doh!\u00a0 Fixed it and moved on.\u00a0 Mile 1 ticked over at 9:36, Zliten was still ahead, and now my goal pace dropped from “anything in the 9s” to “under 9:30s”.\u00a0 We cruised down a hill and I braced myself because what goes down also goes up.\u00a0 I stopped looking at my garmin through that stretch and just tried to fight that hill with everything I could and then when I crested it, I took a deep breath and got back to the lower 9s.<\/p>\n
Around 1.7 was the turn around, I caught up to Zliten, high fived him, and realized I felt good.\u00a0 I had 3 plans for the last mile.\u00a0 If I felt awful, just try to maintain whatever I could because it was the worst (STEEEEP downhill then STEEEEEP uphill), if I felt ok, just try to maintain pace.\u00a0 But I felt good.\u00a0 GOOD.\u00a0\u00a0 So I decided to HURT.\u00a0 I turned the corner and took off, clocking mostly low 8s.\u00a0 Zliten said he tried to keep up but I just booked.\u00a0 I fought up the hill, I exploded down the steep downhill, and steeled myself for the last huge hill.<\/p>\n
It was just as bad as I remembered.\u00a0 I also didn’t look at my garmin during this time but just pushed.\u00a0 I passed at least 3 girls and a few more when we crested it.\u00a0 “Keep it going, keep it going” I thought to myself.\u00a0 Just another turn and we’re done.\u00a0 I picked off a bunch of people that the hill destroyed, but one girl just flew and I couldn’t catch her.\u00a0 Sadly, as the finish line appeared my tummy did flipflops and I slowed down ever so slightly (probably from the 6s to the 7s, I was sprinting like I stole something) and crossed and the announcer mentioned my Ironman visor as I finished (thanks for noticing! :D). The clock said 29 something, so I knew it was close.<\/p>\n
I paced around like a moron going “where the fuck is the water”, and then as soon as I looked back and I saw an orange jacket booking it in and I cheered.\u00a0\u00a0 Zliten finished at about 30:20.\u00a0 To give you perspective on how much more of an awesome runner he is than last year, he beat his time by 5 MINUTES.\u00a0 Badass.\u00a0 And he was injured this week so he was not able to run until yesterday.\u00a0 Double badass.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Check out the new shooz.\u00a0\u00a0 I converted him to my Asics ways.\u00a0 He likes em.\u00a0 Also, yeah, race 20.\u00a0 4 more to finish out the year at 24 races in 12 months.\u00a0 HELL YAH!<\/p>\n
We walked around a bit and he got food and I drooled over food and got fruit (didn’t figure good queso, sammiches, or scallops? would not be good mid-run fuel) so I grabbed a half of a quinoa wrap for later, took it to the car, and did a mile cooldown.\u00a0 I noticed I kept dipping into m-pace territory and forced myself to slow down (ended around 11;45).\u00a0 Maybe I was doing better than I thought.<\/p>\n
We were going to stay for awards, but then noticed that the results were up in a tent.\u00a0 Last year, 1st AG (because I guess all the fast people were elsewhere).\u00a0 This year, 8th.\u00a0 Womp womp.\u00a0 Decided at that point, it was time to go get the rest of our day on.\u00a0 Got home, got some water, ate some honeystinger chews, and got back out before I lost motivation.\u00a0 I did half a mile warmup to try and make my legs un-stiffify, and noticed that 11s became easier as I went on. At .5 I reset my garmin and started the clock on 6 miles of m-pace (11:30s).<\/p>\n
Mile 1 was easy (11:16).\u00a0 My legs felt warm, the day had warmed enough that it was sunny and gorgeous (with a ls shirt and arm warmers) and I was ready to rock.\u00a0 However, being half a mile displaced on my normal run course was a little demoralizing.\u00a0 And it started to affect my pace.\u00a0\u00a0 I was slowing. (11:30).\u00a0 I got to my favorite part of the course and naturally picked up, and then had a little talk with myself.\u00a0 “Self, this is the test.\u00a0 It’s time to fight.\u00a0 This last lap, you are going to FIGHT.” (11:17).\u00a0 Mile 4 included some uphills, and I fought each one.\u00a0 When I hit 4, I thought “2 more like this” (11:10).\u00a0 When I hit the uphills again, I fought each one again.\u00a0 And every time I fought, I got faster.\u00a0 My avg pace was around 11:10s (? 20 sec FASTER than m-pace) and it kept feeling better.\u00a0 Fight. (Mile 5 – 10:49).\u00a0 Got to my favorite part again.\u00a0 In the 10s regularly.\u00a0 FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT.\u00a0 Mile 6 was the fastest at 10:39.\u00a0 Almost 1 minute faster than m-pace on my 15th mile of the day. I FOUGHT THE RUN AND I WON. 1:06 and change for 6 miles.\u00a0 About a 11 min\/mile pace.<\/p>\n
I felt AWESOME, but I figured I should jog it in.\u00a0 I dropped to the 12s.\u00a0 …and then my legs HATED me so I walked it in to stretch em out.\u00a0 Lesson learned.\u00a0 It’s going to be a huge mental game to stay in the 10s and 11s in the marathon, but thats where my body wants me to be.\u00a0 My stride felt great, my body felt great, I wasn’t winded… but my brain thinks “danger danger danger it’s going to be a long day slow down or you’re going to blow”.\u00a0 11s is not too much to ask of my body.\u00a0 My brain needs to recognize.\u00a0 My brain needs to FIGHT.\u00a0 This will be my marathon mantra.\u00a0\u00a0 FIGHT.\u00a0 FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT.<\/p>\n
Now, it’s time to enjoy my pizza lunch, champagne, rocking out as the slutty pirate for weekend #2 of 3, and putting this mad mental game from today in a little box and bringing it out on m-day and tearing up that course.<\/p>\n
I’ll leave you with that so I can start on champagne bottle #3 and more pizza.<\/p>\n
Vitals:<\/p>\n
Weight I took this week was 178.\u00a0 Not awesome, but not tragic.<\/p>\n
Workouts this week:<\/p>\n
Monday: grumpy pants triathlon of whining, pouting, and sleeping
\nTuesday: 4.5 miles ran, 20 miles bike
\nWednesday: 3 miles ran
\nThursday: 5.5 miles before work, 3 at lunch, 11 miles bike after work
\nFriday: off
\nSaturday: as above.\u00a0 15 miles in 2:48 total
\nSunday: couch to ass reps<\/p>\n
Next week – taper week #1:<\/p>\n
Monday: 3-4 mile run
\nTuesday: 7-8 mile run
\nWednesday: 45 min bike
\nThursday: 3-4 mile run
\nFriday: off
\nSaturday: 8-10 mile run (last 2 at marathon goal pace)
\nSunday: off<\/p>\n
A range, because I want to see how my body feels.\u00a0 The next two weeks are for getting my leggies rested and ready to tackle 26.2.\u00a0 The proverbial hay is in the barn, so I won’t run through pain or discomfort and just want to keep my body primed for marathon:awesome.<\/p>\n
MARATHON:AWESOME.\u00a0 Two weeks to go.\u00a0 Let’s do this.\u00a0 I wanna be a marathoner already.<\/p>\n