Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Train Hard Race Strong
As luck would have it, the August issue of Runner's World arrived with an article written by Dean Karnazes on how to run a faster marathon! That is going to be one dog-eared page.
With the Rock and Roll marathon almost two months behind me, I need to start some serious running. I followed a five week recovery plan and am gearing up for a 10K in September. Without a race, I get complacent, so last week I started following a 5 week plan that incorporates speed work. It appeared in the July Runner's World and it's for a 5K, but I figured speed work is speed work and I just add more miles on the weekend long run.
Tuesday is interval day and last week and today I ran 4 x 400 on the treadmill, with two minutes recovery between intervals. I set the incline to 1.5 to compensate for the belt and run the 400s at 10mpm. That's my 5K goal--to finish in 30 minutes. I'll bet reading this makes you feel fast, doesn't it? :-)
On Thursday I do tempo runs. I'm not really clear what that means, so I run for twenty minutes at an 11 mpm pace. That's what I did last Thursday, and it was tough. Maybe this Thursday it won't be as difficult.
The reason I'm running on a treadmill is that for the past month I've been taking swimming lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, so to save time, I run before my swimning lesson. It's not a heavy-duty swimming lesson; it's with the women I trained with for the marathon. I took swimming lessons when I was ten, and it was one of the best things my parents did for me. But four and a half decades later, I'm not a strong swimmer and wanted to improve. Besides, I keep hearing what great cross-training swimming is.
I've noticed an improvement! Although my basic form was good, I had developed some bad habits and the instructor showed me how to improve. We do drills and practice breathing. I wear fins and they helped me kick stronger, although today I loaned them to one of my teammates and did fine without them. I even managed to swim two 50 meter laps without stopping! I once told my triathlete friend Marcia how winded I get when I do the freestyle, so she advised me to just go slower. So I did and it's much more relaxing! With this class, I've discovered the joy of swim goggles and even wear a swim cap, something I remember from the bad old days and thought I'd never do again. It keeps the hair out of my eyes, so that's a good thing. My silicone cap is a lot easier to put on and off than those old latex ones with the fake flowers on top. God, I hated those things!
I also had a killer bike ride last Saturday. Four of us rode from the store; two women (one was the store owner) were very experienced and the other one had my level of inexperience. We rode through the country for 28 miles, which incorporated hills, flats and freeway. Not flats as in flat tires, but flat road. I'm still learning my gears and shifted up instead of down while climbing a hill, but I only made that mistake once! The other newbie would follow me too closely, so I fell back about 5 bike lengths to bring up the rear. But at one point, where the road was pretty flat, I overtook her and flew past. Actually, my bike flew past, I just went along for the ride. This was the day that I appreciated what a great bike I have; I hadn't noticed on the hill climbs. The women that I passed envied my endurance (!) and decided that it must be because of the marathon training. It's pretty nice for this 55 year old back-of-the packer to have someone envy her fitness. But I'm pretty sure it's the bike. :-)
I had company Sunday, so did my long run on Monday instead. I ran nine miles of rolling hills, on a road that I trained on for the marathon. It's been a long time since I had been on that road and it was very enjoyable. I saw quail, deer, and wild turkeys. I kept my eyes peeled for skunks, but fortunately, didn't see any. The running was difficult, but I pretty much kept to my 6:1 run/walk schedule. I was proud of those nine miles once I was done, but where the heck did my fitness go? During marathon training, nine miles wasn't even a challenge. I thought I'd be able to bang out 18 miles runs whenever I wanted. Now I find I have to build up to that again. Oh well, it's good to have goals.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
If I Knew Then What I Know Now
I recently turned 55 years young and have been thinking of a post to commemorate that. I was going to list the things I witnessed in each decade (color TV, long-haired men, disco, Olympic marathon for women [go Joanie Benoit!], fall of the Soviet Union, rise of terrorism, and finally a women presidential candidate--oh wait! Scratch that one.) But today I had a dentist appointment and I have significant bone loss, which is bad when you consider it's what holds your teeth in. So I came up with a different list, one of things I would do differently if I had a second chance.
Regret is not something I wallow in. I realize that life experiences are what made me the woman I am today. If I had taken a different path, I wouldn't have met my husband, etc. I'm generally a pretty happy person and grateful for the life I have. But I'm feeling reflective, so for what it's worth here's my list:
- I would have gone to college straight out of high school. In high school I was a terrible student, and couldn't wait to be out on my own. No one in my family went to college, and certainly not women. College for women was considered a waste of money, since she would just get married, stay home and have children. Only unmarried women went to work. I also thought that college was for people who knew what they wanted to do in life--doctor, lawyer, that kind of thing. I didn't know about a liberal arts education. I finally got a bachelor's degree in 2002, at age 49, and it was one of the proudest days of my life. But I was frustrated in my work life and I think if I had a college degree when I was younger, my career would have advanced and I would have made more money.
I would have started saving money when I was twenty and let the magic of compound interest work in my favor. It's hard to do when you're earning minimum wage, but it can still be done. I didn't understand any of that when I was twenty. I didn't understand a lot of things.
Mickey Mantle said, "If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." He got that right! I would have eaten better. Less sugar, more protein. My weight went up and down like a Duncan YoYo. And even when it was down, I had a low body image. One year (1973) I was looking for a New Year's Eve outfit. I maybe weighed 110 pounds, which was not a lot. I can remember trying on an outfit and rejecting it because it "made me look fat." Sheesh.
I would have started exercising early and often. Actually, in 1978 I started jogging. I was twenty-four then and married to my first husband, a smoker. The only running gear I owned was a pair of New Balance shoes--blue and lime green. I didn't know anything about pace or speed work; I just wanted to live a healthier lifestyle. One time I ran seven laps around my block and to keep going when I was tired, I envisioned people on the sidelines cheering me on. But I didn't even know how to find a race, much less run one. Remember, Google wouldn't exist until a couple more decades. Later when I met SD, we used to go jogging before work. We had a dog then and he would heel beside me as I ran. But we gave the dog away and eventually I stopped exercising. It's interesting to me that 30 years later I'm running races and people on the sidelines cheer me on.
Which brings me to pets. It wasn't until I had my last cat that I learned the way to your pets heart is to feed him. You can pet and coo all you want and they'll lap it up, but their loyalty is to the one who places the food dish on the floor. I also now believe that once you accept an animal into your home, you keep him for life.
Finally, back to the reason I started this post: I would have taken better care of my teeth. Although I haven't had a cavity in years, I've had my share of them. But more significantly, I would have heeded the warning to brush after every meal. And floss daily. That's not to sell more toothpaste, folks. It's because plaque forms from the saliva in our mouth and brushing removes it. When plaque isn't removed, bacteria adheres to it and starts to eat away at the gums and eventually the bone that supports the teeth. This is the bad news I got at the dentist office today. There's no replacing the bone that's lost. All I can do is try to halt further deterioration. "Ignore your teeth and they'll go away." Oy.
So that's the bit of wisdom I'm passing on. I hope it wasn't too much of a downer. I'm in a new age group now, and in theory I have a chance to rank higher. I don't have any expectations of coming in at the top, however. But if any of you want to pass on your own bits of wisdom, say how I can become a 5-hour marathoner, I'm listening. Now excuse me, I have to go brush my teeth. :-)
Friday, July 11, 2008
A Mile High
Greetings from Denver. I've been in town for a couple of days to take care of some personal business. I had a free day today and looked for the perfect place to run six miles. Nothing went as planned, but I did get my run in.
I had a light breakfast at the hotel, and left at 9:30. I was going to go to a state park, which I envisioned as being miles of trails with large green trees to provide shade. It took a while to get there and then it wasn't what I expected so I left. I found a map that showed bike trails through downtown, so I switched plans and headed back north. By the time I parked and actually got going, it was 11:30 and hot, hot, hot! I know better than to run at high noon in the middle of summer, but I didn't want to put this off. So I ran along a bike trail aside Cherry Creek. It was not very pretty, but very few places are in the middle of a scorching day. It got better as I headed north, and the creek converged with the South Platte river. There was a nice park there and kids were playing in the water. I confess that I wanted to join them, but I kept going. I did take note that there was a Starbucks there and after 3 miles I turned around and stopped for water at Starbucks. It was adjacent to REI, so I went in there to use the bathroom and bought a GU.
It was hard going, but I don't think I can blame it on the altitude. I'll blame the heat! I thought I'd do some 30 second intervals, but I didn't last more than 20 seconds--once! At the start I took walking breaks at every mile, but after the third mile I was struggling. That was discouraging, but I made it the full six miles. I carried the refrigerated bottle of water that I bought at Starbucks and by the end of the run it was as warm as bath water. I never saw a weather report, but I was easily in the 90s and I wouldn't be surprised if it broke 100.
Afterwards I went back to the Starbucks and had a sandwich and latte. Then I shopped at REI. They were having a clearance sale, so I bought a bike jersey for SD and a long sleeved jersey for me (for when the weather gets cooler), plus some cute bike socks. :-)
When I got back to my hotel I went into the fitness room to refill my water bottles. I spotted an elliptical machines and since I was still in my running clothes, I hopped on for 20 minutes. Don't ask me what got into me. Then I sat outside by the pool. I was exhausted, but some people were in the pool and it looked so inviting that I put on my suit and jumped in. It was the absolute perfect thing to do; the swimming loosened up my muscles and the water invigorated me. Then I showered and went out to dinner. I went to a nice little neighborhood restaurant named Duo--I highly recommend it if you're in the Denver area. Started with a roasted beet salad and had gnocchi con pesto for my entree. The entire dinner was only $25 and it was delicious. I went to Oceanaire the night before and spent more than that on just the salmon, but I was familiar with Oceanaire since it was started in Minneapolis. I actually went there because a guy that worked at the Starbucks I used to camp out at in Minneapolis, moved to Denver a year ago and worked there. So I went to see him; he was surprised to see me of course, but knew who I was. The maitre d' introduced himself to me, and then the executive chef came over! I guess they were impressed that I would look up N., but it's just a Minnesota thing.
While I've been in Denver, SD has been in Minneapolis. It's been weird for me to be alone in a strange town. And to have a hotel room all to myself! I had all three drawers to myself, and the king size bed. We both get home tomorrow, where we'll resume getting in each other's way. :-)
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