When negative is positive

Well, hello there.  It's been quite a long time since I've posted.  Sorry for being out of touch.  Rest assured, everything in my running world has been bouncing along nicely.  In fact, it's been relatively boring, but I am very grateful for that.  I mentioned how chaotic my work life has been a few posts ago and that hasn't changed much.  However, Heather gave me some sage advice that has really worked.  She told me to look to the things in my life that are positive as a way to drown out the negative din.

Running has been a great way for me to focus my energy on something constructive that is under my control. Being able to run without concern for injury has made it even more perfect.  I have bumped my way up to 85 miles per week by slowly adding miles each week for the last 11 weeks. I will continue to scoot up, 5 miles/week, to see how I handle it.  Once I hit 100, I think I'll level off for a couple of weeks, but that's only 3 weeks away!

I came down in mileage last week for a race.  What what?  Yep, I ran a race: my first 5k in seven months.  It was a great opportunity to test out some of Coach L's mental exercises and focus on a fast finish.  Every workout I do is meant to be run as a negative split to program my body/brain to get faster throughout the race.  I didn't have a time goal, but I did want to finish hard the last mile.  I have never negative split a 5k before and was determined to do so.  One way to do that is to sand bag the first half, but that doesn't really count.  I wasn't sure how to split the race since I knew the course had some good hills.

I ran 18:25 (by my watch) and my splits were 5:58, 6:06 (hilly mile), 5:45, :36.  I was so pleased with that third mile and how focused I was able to remain through quite a bit of pain.  The pain was coming from my hip flexor muscles.  This was a "good pain" in that I knew it was muscle fatigue and not injury.  Holy guacamole were they screaming!

Look at those screaming muscles!

Confession time. Post race, I confessed to my coaches that I hadn't followed their pre-race instructions (do no strength work after Thursday) because my schedule didn't allow.  On Friday, I had to make a choice: do I forgo strength training for the entire week (I hadn't done any earlier in the week) or do I get it done and live with the consequences in the race?  I decided that the strength work was more important to me.  However, I did learn a valuable lesson in how much 24 reps of 100-lb squats + lunges + core work + Bulgarian squats + what not, can dull your legs for a fast race or workout.  Strength Coach Tim asked me if I'm the type of person who always has to learn the hard way.  I told him I am not.  I knew the likely outcome of my choice, but I chose being strong over being fast.      

To that point--I am convinced that the main reason my body is handling higher mileage so well this time around is due to this strength program.  I have been building in that program too, adding weight and decreasing reps to really build muscle.  I just went over the 100 lb mark for my squat (front and back) repetitions and look forward to the day I am doing my reps using my own body weight.  I like the mental image of me doing squat reps with myself on my shoulders.

Like most distance runners, I have been concerned that my body weight would also increase as a result of packing on more muscles.  I am proof positive that this doesn't have to happen.  I'm now at the same low weight as last October when I was running good mileage but doing zero strength training.  My arms were puny back then though my legs were still muscular.  My body fat is a little higher now than it was back then, so I actually have room to lose a bit more.

Riffing on the subject of body fat. I was really concerned about having levels that were too low after getting hydrostatic tested last fall.  Yes, I know that there is error associated with this measure, but I was still damn low adding on the highest standard error estimate associated with this method. That actually bothered me for months because everything I read said that my levels were so low that my body shouldn't be functioning.  In fact, I worried that the injuries I was experiencing in November/December were due to low body fat.  I was trying to figure out a way to gain body fat while continuing to exercise: not because I was experiencing any symptoms of low BF, but because I fell outside the *normal* range for ladies.  Simply eating more doesn't work since exercise converts the excess calories to muscle rather than fat.  The only way to store more body fat is to eat more AND stop exercising.  I proved that when I was injured: my body fat popped right back up.

I did a lot of asking around about this issue and what finally convinced me to abandon my quest for higher body fat was a convo with Dr. Ball.  I told him about my dilemma and he said, "you didn't get injured because you had low body fat.  You got injured because you were doing stupid shit with your training.  You don't need more body fat."  He was right.  My body fat levels are low but fine.  I'm a muscular girl and will always weigh more than most distance runners. I'll probably have lower body fat than most of them too.  That's how I'm built: like a Swiss tank.

I am a runner/singer.  Music is another hobby that has helped me cope with the rocks at work lately, but it has always been a calming activity for me.  My Mom used to tell people that she knew I was dealing with problems as a child when I would lock myself in my room and saw away at my cello for hours. I would emerge a different child.  I feel lucky to be able to rely on music for this.

Setting the goal and qualifying for the Olympic Trials in my late thirties has made me think:  well, WTF?  What other crazy things should I try to do?  Two weeks ago, I submitted an audition video to The Voice!  Chances are it won't even be watched, but the process of choosing songs, practicing, recording and telling my story, was super fun.  Plus, I have this video to show for my hard work (YouTube link here if you can't play the embedded version)!  Enjoy!

A big race

I'm pretty excited about a decision I've made this week.  I had planned to run a 10k on Memorial Day until I got a message from USATF about the Half Marathon Championship race in Duluth, MN in June.  I've always wanted to run the Grandma's Marathon because I've heard so many great things about it.  Running the second half of it will do just fine.

This race is especially exciting because I feel like it's far enough out that I actually have a shot at getting in good shape for it.  My fitness is by no means great at this point, but my workouts are solid, and I'm definitely handling higher mileage well.

I went to see a new massage therapist last night and loved her.  Jennifer Walker at CMT Sports Therapy is a real pro.  The point of the treatment was for maintenance since I don't have anything that hurts right now.  She explained what she was feeling as she worked over my legs.  At the end of the session, she told me that she really enjoyed working on me because she was able to get all the way through my lower half without needing to spend a ton of time on any one major kink.  She said that I'm in very good shape, my muscles are healthy and fairly balanced.  My psoas got extra special kudos for being more mobile than most runners she works on.  Yay, psoas!  Getting regular massage from Jen will be a key feature of my routine moving forward.  Since I'm building mileage and intensity right now, I'm going to start with a 3-week massage cycle and see how that goes.

I got a new piece of electro gear this week: the Garmin 910XT.  It's a slick unit and definitely an improvement over the 310XT.  It's smaller, a better color (all black) and has new and improved features.  My favorite is a double tap on the watch screen to turn on the light.  It also uploads so much faster than my old GPS.  If anyone is looking for a 310XT, I have one for sale!

Finally, one of my blogging buddies, Girl in Motion, is going through some scary health issues right now.  I'm requesting that you send her some positive vibes and keep her in your thoughts as she works her way through the medical maze to good health.    

Dealing with stress

All stressed out and nowhere to go

Stress sucks.  I'm talking about the kind of stress that leaves you mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the day and then keeps you awake at night.  Many things, like my running, are going so well right now, but work is very stressful.  This isn't the "optimal" kind of stress resulting from tight deadlines working on fun stuff.  This is the negative kind that comes from people being unpredictable and passive-aggressive. There are some really good aspects of my work that I wish I could spend more time focusing on to balance everything out.  I guess I am having trouble seeing that balance point on the horizon.

In looking back at last fall, I realize that these work issues were present even then.  I now wonder how much of a role this stress played in the illnesses and injuries I succumbed to before the Trials race.  I imagine quite a bit.  I don't ever want to end up there again, so I need to find better ways of handling stress.  I would love to hear your ideas on how you deal.

One of the brightest spots in my life and something I now look forward to each day is my running.  It wasn't very long ago when that wasn't the case!  I am making a concerted effort to maintain all of my strength, flexibility and recovery work to ensure that I continue to run without pain.  That is a challenge as my mileage continues to increase (65 this week!), putting more demands on an already cramped schedule.

I just completed my 4th week of training and am repeating workouts I did in the first and second weeks.  I really like this concept of cycling through workouts a couple of times at the beginning of training.  It's giving me a sense of how quickly I'm gaining fitness.  For example, the first workout I did was a 4 mile fartlek of one minute on and one minute off repeated throughout.  I ran this with my friend and my coach.  We probably ran the whole 4 mile workout in around 25:50 or so, but our coach had us run the last 4 minutes "on".

The Püddle (aka Logan) is doing what I wanted to do Tuesday night.

Fast forward three weeks to this Tuesday night when I had the 1-on-1-off fartlek workout on my schedule again.  I worked a full day, went to two hours of band practice and got home at around 8:30, still needing to get in my workout.  I really, really, really, wanted to just eat dinner and go to bed.  The Genius had waited to do his 10-mile run with me so I didn't have to run in the dark alone.  There was no way I could disappoint him!

Running in the dark on the bike trail is actually really fun, but boy was I tired.  My goal was to try to run the workout in under 25 minutes and, of course, progress my pace each mile during the workout.  I ended up running the workout in 24:55 and progressed my mile paces throughout.  I was very happy with my progress, especially considering that I did this workout as written as opposed to running the last 4 minutes all "on" like the first time.  I wonder how many more weeks it will take to duck under 24 minutes.

Stump the chumps

Here's something that I am perplexed by and would like someone to help me understand.  Some weeks, I do both a 4-mile fartlek like the one I did earlier this week and then a 4-mile tempo later in the week.  Four weeks ago, after that first fartlek workout, I was lamenting my slow pace and wondering what in the world my tempo pace would be.  The Genius said that I should be able to do my tempo faster than my fartlek.  That has not proven to be the case!  I run just about the same overall time and pace whether I'm doing it at a steady pace or speeding up and slowing down continuously throughout the workout.  Weird, right?

Even The Genius is stumped, and that's hard to do.  His reasoning was sound--if you could run faster or just as fast doing the speed up-slow down thing, why don't people run races that way?  My best guess is that it's a psychological phenomenon.  When I'm doing the fartlek, I know I'm going to get a "break" after a certain amount of time.  Even though my pace is around 6:30-6:45 for that break, it's a relief and allows for a little recovery.  The workout is sort of broken up into little chunks (that's for you t-meat).  My hypothesis is that it has to do with looking forward to the breaks or knowing that I only need to suffer a little longer before I can recover.  Contrast that with a tempo workout (my least favorite workout in the world) where the whole thing's just one long suffer-fest.  A tempo requires a different type of mental toughness, and one that needs a lot of work for me.  I'm interested in alternative hypotheses on this and your experiences with the two contrasting workouts.        

Strong like bull

As my workouts and mileage progress, so does my strength training.  I completed my 6th week of training today and am starting to get much stronger.  I was able to clean and press a bag of dog food today--something I couldn't do a couple of months ago.  Actually, that was only 40 pounds.  I was able to clean and press 60 lbs to get the barbell on my shoulders for back squats today.  This program is great in that Coach Tim started me out with no weights and sort of a traditional higher rep no/low weight routine.  He called this the honeymoon period.  He was just trying to get my body used to the exercises and prime me for heavier lifting.

The 6-week program I'm in right now progresses in weight on many of the exercises as I'm able to take on more, but the reps decrease.  By the end of week 6, I'll only do 3 x 8 squats, but they will be with heavy weights.  Not all of the exercises have that pattern, but this is definitely different than anything I've done before.  The really amazing thing is that I have not once felt that "oh my God I can't walk" soreness that I always used to feel with my strength training. I have a suspicion that it's because before I just jumped into the strength training without the "honeymoon period".  In fact, that was why I stopped strength training--I always felt sore for a couple of days after doing it and that interfered with my running.  Now, my legs definitely feel heavier the next day, but I'm able to shake that out pretty quickly.

I really like working with Tim.  He understands how runners train.  He is adapting my plan to my running schedule so that my strength training has me peaking at the same time my running is for my races.  Speaking of races: I probably have a few on the horizon.  Now that I feel like I'm starting to get my mojo back, I'll probably jump in something sooner rather than later just to start working on my mental game.  I am planning to run the Marin Memorial Day 10k in May as a goal race.  Let's see if I can take down that "soft" 10k PR this year!    

You can do it, little Golf!

While I continue to rack up my running miles, my trusty little VW Golf is doing the same.  I will go over 200,000 miles this weekend in my cute little diesel car.  I'm hoping to get at least another 100k out of him and hopefully out of me too!

Running stuff I love

Before I tell you about the running-related things I love right now, I thought I'd give a quick training update.  I started doing workouts this week and couldn't be more thrilled.  I've done two workouts with the instruction to run them as a progression and at light to medium effort.  They both went so much better than I thought they would.

I did a 4-mile fartlek workout of 1 minute on/1 minute off on Monday with my teammate, t-meat and my coach.  This was awesome because I was pushed by them and definitely completed the workout faster than I thought I would.  It was also a tricky workout.  Yes, I know it seems pretty straightforward.  The trick is that you run each mile faster than the one before.  If you think about that, not each mile has the same number of on and off minutes in it, so you have to be really careful to start out slow enough and then speed up both the "on" and "off" repeats.  We averaged 6:25 pace for the whole thing (including the off minutes), and negative split the workout.  It felt great to get the legs moving faster than the easy pace I've been running for the last four weeks.

Thursday, I did a traditional tempo run--something I haven't done in ages.  My goal was to start out very comfortable and cut down each mile, ensuring I had to keep my mind in the game to maintain pace the last mile.  I had the good fortune of having a partner for this one too (thanks, Bat)!  I started at a comfortable 6:36 pace and cut 5-8 seconds per mile off each mile, finishing at 6:22 pace.  My coach told me he doesn't want me worrying about paces right now.  The goal is to execute the workouts correctly, regardless of pace, to program my body and brain to always start out slowly and increase my speed.

Not only does this program require progressing within the workout, but each workout gets faster during the training block.  For example, I will start my next tempo run (in 2 weeks) at the average pace of the one I just did, so around 6:30 pace and cut down each mile from there.  The next will start at the average of that one and so on.  You can see how easy it would be to get sideways with this program if you start out too fast.  There's a lot of self control needed to get through the program in one piece.  I will also continue to up my mileage each week until I reach 80-85 miles per week at which point we'll assess whether I go higher or stay there and add cross training as a second workout some days.  I'll run a little over 50 miles this week.  

I feel like I have recently hit upon some real winners in the way of running-related stuff and wanted to share.  Here are some of my new favorite things:

Balega compression socks--the best of both worlds

The great thing about compression attire becoming popular is that the selection has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years.  I have worn compression sleeves and socks for close to three years now and have tried just about every brand.  I was hooked on CEP socks for a while because of the high level of support they offer, but I have always hated the foot of the sock.  I often found my foot sliding inside my shoe while wearing CEP socks and would end up with crazy blisters, especially when wearing my racing flats.  Compression sleeves are an alternative that allow me to wear whatever sock I like, but the compression is just not the same with those.

So, imagine how excited I was to see that my favorite sock brand, Balega, started making a compression sock AND that runningwarehouse.com was selling them for half the price of CEPs!  I immediately ordered a pair and was very pleased.  They do not have the tight compression of the CEPs that requires 10 minutes to roll them up your lower leg, but what appears to be less compression certainly does the job.  I love wearing these socks for recovery with boots at work too.

Nuun

Right before the Olympic Trials, I started to use Nuun.  I honestly can't recall why I bought a container of these tablets--probably product placement near the checkout counter (gets me every time), but I am so happy I did.  I was plopping these tabs into my water on a daily basis before the race and felt much better for pumping those electrolytes into my body.  I like the fact that I can use my own water bottle with these too,  eliminating my consumption of sports drinks in plastic bottles.  They also have no sugar or corn syrup or nasty artificial flavors or colors in them.  This helps keep my water bottles and my body clean.

I liked the product so much that I decided to try a 1/2 tablet with water in each of my special fluid bottles at the Olympic Trials.  It's typically not a good idea to try something new on race day, but I felt like I wasn't taking a big chance with this.  I loved the combination of Roctane Gu and Nuun tabs for fueling.  I normally will only take water in a marathon because of concerns that sports drink would impede my digestion of Gu during the race.  The addition of Nuun didn't have that effect.  It was the perfect complement to the Gu I was taking every 5-7 miles.  

MuscleTrac

With the large volume of running I typically do, I have relied a lot on finding good tools for self massage (keep it clean, here). My favorites are my $2 lacrosse ball, and the Grid.  I recently dusted off my Stick  when I was having soreness in my calf muscles and was reminded how great a tool that is.  I decided to see what new devices were out there on the market that I could try out.  I ordered the MuscleTrac because it was similar to The Stick and the description on their website sounded convincing.  It was a $45 investment that I felt I could afford to make.  What I like about the product is that I can really dig into areas in my muscles with adhesions.  The little knobs are more effective at getting at the adhesions, I think, than the flat rollers on The Stick and it is a nice alternative to a Lacrosse ball for my calf muscles and quads.  I like having the whole suite of tools, actually, because they each give a different result.

LuluLemon MacGyver Jacket

I need to admit that I have an addiction.  My addiction is to LuluLemon running gear.  Yes, their gear is cute, feminine and fits really well, but the main reason I love their stuff is because it does not stink!  This is a small miracle for someone like me who spends a lot of time in workout gear and has oft been embarrassed by the perma-stink that emanates from my old moisture-wicking shorts and bras within milliseconds of beginning a workout.  I have a very sensitive nose and absolutely cannot stand the smell of dozens of workouts on my clothes.  I tried everything to get the stink out of my old clothes, and I mean everything!  Feel free to suggest things I haven't tried, but I believe I have exhausted my possibilities.

I was super skeptical about Lulu's claim on the anti-stink properties of most of their fabrics, but I am now a believer.  I have put these clothes through the test too!  I have worn some of their silverscent shirts 2-3 times trying to get my BO stink to embed in them with no luck.  The shorts I have found to be easier to stink up, but the stink also seems to wash out of them with a regular wash using regular detergent and doesn't continue to build.

Another thing I love about the products is that they are very creative with their designs.  I love to explore the new garments I get to find the hidden pockets and special writing on the inner lining.  I love one of my tops right now that has words on the inside of the built-in hand mitts that state "cold hands" on the left inner glove and "warm heart" on the right.  There's something special about these little features that make me smile when I put on the garment.

The jacket I am enjoying the most right now is what I call my MacGyver jacket.  It is a warm, down jacket that I run in when temperatures are below 40.   I thought at first that running in this thing would leave me boiling by the end of the workout, but it has these amazing long zippered vents on both sides in the front that effectively cool you down and the under sleeves are a light, stretchy fabric that allows your pits to let off steam.  By far the best feature is the reversible nature of the jacket.  It becomes a reflective beacon when you turn it inside-out.  Perfect for cold, dark, early mornings.  It's also very fashionable, and I wear it around with regular clothes too.  And it doesn't stink!

One of the challenges with LuluLemon is that their popular products fly off the shelves and they don't seem to replenish their stock.  So, you have to be willing to bite the bullet and pay what seems to be a hefty price for something that you really like before it is gone forever.  Well, you can always find stuff on eBay, but the price is typically jacked way up!  Many people complain about how expensive their clothes are, but they are not much more than other brands.  I will always pay more for a superior product, anyway, especially one that keeps me from stinking like a dog's overly expressive anal gland.      

believeiam Relaxed Hoody

I adore my believeiam hoody-dress.  It is my go-to post-workout and lounging-around-the-house clothing option that I can slip on over tights or wear as a dress.  I love the idea behind the cryptic floral designs printed on the believeiam products.  If you look closely, you see that the flower is actually a bunch of letters forming an inspirational word.  The idea is to wear the clothing as a costume so that when you put it on, it's doing more than just covering your body parts--it makes you feel relaxed or strong or whatever the flower design says.  I actually own two of these hoodies now.  I found out the hard way that you shouldn't clean the house with bleach in garments you care about.  I now have a white spotted house cleaning hoody and a hoody that I can wear out in public.  Unfortunately, the bleach spots did not form an inspirational word on my hoody, but they did inspire me to belt out a few choice words of my own!            

Here's to cool gear and running happy!

A little eccentric

Photo from: http://craziestgadgets.com/

Buried in the comment section of my last post was a snippet explaining why I developed a sore achilles when I started back to running a few weeks ago.  I decided to elevate the status of that comment since I now have more evidence that my shoes were likely the main culprit.  I also think there's an important lesson to document in this story--one that I hope I come back to the next time I try something new in the form of footwear.

Last summer, I posted about my plans to transition to a flatter (less heel-to-toe drop) and more minimal shoe.  I started with the Nike Free as my transition shoe.  I started having persistent calf muscle soreness and other foot problems, so I became nervous about going Free full time.  I then found the Saucony Kinvara and worked my way through three pairs of those.  However, I noticed that I was warping those within the first few runs.  No lie.  The entire sole at the front of the shoe would flatten out like a pancake within 30 miles of wear.  I then tried the New Balance Pure Connect and that's about the time I really started to slide into injury oblivion.  My calf muscles during this entire flatter/lighter shoe phase were on fire constantly.   I blamed the calf soreness on my hips being out of alignment.

I really, really, really wanted to wear flat, light shoes. Why?  Because it made so much sense!!!!  I thought my body would adjust to the changed footwear and that I would be left with stronger feet and lower legs as a result.  Let me be clear and state that I know I can't blame all of my injuries and soreness on my shoes.  I'm pretty sure I made some stupid decisions about my training that contributed mightily to my constant state of body pissed-offedness.

Starting this next round of training, I wanted to find a shoe I could stick with.   I read a review of the Saucony Cortana and it was describe as the Kinvara with a little more cushion.  Perfect!!!  I really loved the Kinvara but they just wore out way too fast.  I started wearing the Cortana once I started back up to running in late January.  Within two days, I had a sore right achilles.  Dr. Ball surmised it was related to the treatment he was doing at the time and advised me to do the eccentric heel drop exercises to make it go away.  I did the exercises, but the soreness sort of came and went.

On one of the days that it came back, I switched shoes to my old Mizuno Wave Riders, a beefy, high-heeled, neutral shoe, and like magic the soreness was gone.  I continued to run in the Mizunos and do the heel exercises and the soreness did not return.  Always the experimentalist, I decided to try out the Cortanas again to see what would happen, and, bam, the achilles was instantly sore again.  So, this was clear enough evidence for me.

Of course, I don't know whether it was truly the flatness of the shoe or some other feature.  However, I had clearly been having problems with my feet, shins and calf muscles since I started experimenting with minimalist shoes.  I wanted to be able to wear them so badly, that I ignored the evidence right under my toes.  I did this with an ill-fitting pair of Doc Martins back in the day too.  Lost toenails to those suckers, but oh how I wanted to fit in them!

I think this tale is a good one for people who, like me, want to take advantage of all the new choices in footwear and all of the anecdotal as well as some scientific information suggesting that a flatter and lighter shoe is the key to running without injury.  I think it's great to experiment with new gear, but there are risks we have to accept when doing that.  I was so sold on the idea that a more minimal shoe was right for me that I was blind to the evidence staring me in the face to the contrary.

I'm currently wearing the Mizuno WaveRider 15 and the Wave Precision 12.  While I can't say that these are the perfect shoes for me, they fit well and don't make me hurt.  The one slam dunk perfect shoe that I own is the Nike Lunaracer.  I have tried other shoes for racing, but these are the best I've found.  They seem to work for me in every distance from the 5k to the marathon.  I won't change those out.  Well, not until something really, really exciting comes along.  Like maybe the new Nike Flyknit.

Feeling the love

The blue streaks in my hair have finally faded to the point of being barely visible; my ice blue nail polish is nearly chipped away completely; and, my memories of running in pain are fading too.

As the memory of the Olympic Trials and all of the craziness that preceded it becomes more distant, I get asked a lot: what's next?  I have been very insistent in my response that nothing is next--at least for the foreseeable future.  I want time to enjoy running for the sake of running, and, in so doing, build a solid base.  That base includes a slow ramp up in mileage and a new strength training program.  I want to give my body time to adapt to both.

My running life is actually quite normal right now.  I am slowly increasing my mileage, 5 miles per week, and am running just about every day.  I'll complete 40 miles this week.  For the most part, the issues I had before the Trials are all but gone.  I had some soreness in my right achilles tendon pop up the day after I started back to running, but that has faded as my mileage has increased.  I have been doing eccentric heel drops on a daily basis to urge it along and that is definitely doing the trick.  

I started hip mobility exercises when I started running again.  I do a series of 8 exercises as a pre-run warm up.  It takes about 5-10 minutes and is designed to maintain/increase the range of motion in my hips.  Dr. Ball explained that I need to do this 3-4 times per week to maintain the range he helped me achieve during my last visit.  When I left his office, he told me I was good to go but I needed to work on my flexibility and my strength to keep injury at bay.

I mentioned in my last post that I started working with a strength coach.  I received my strength program from Tim and did the routines for the first time last week.  The exercises I'm doing now are designed to get my body primed for more intense workouts in the future.  I'm on a 4 week plan where I do about 12-15 exercises on Tuesdays and a different set of 12-15 exercises on Saturday.  The workouts progress over the 4 weeks and then Tim will decide what's next based on my running plans.

One of the breakthroughs for me was learning that I should be doing the strength work on my hard running days, though I don't have any hard running days right now.  I had always been told to strength train on my rest days.  Now I see that makes no sense.  Rest days are rest days.  If I'm taxing my body on a day that it's trying to repair itself, I'm shortchanging my body of the recovery it needs.  This was helpful for me to hear, especially since I stopped strength training over a year ago mostly because it left me feeling run down even though I was only doing it twice a week.

I haven't felt particularly sore with the strength workouts that I have done so far, and that's just fine.  Tim explained to me that we're in the "honeymoon phase" right now.  He needs to get a sense of how my body responds to the exercises and intensity.  So far so good.  I can see this will be a long and progressive process, and I can already tell it will be a very good thing for my running.

Next week, I'll progress to 45 miles/week of running and will be ready for two, six-week blocks of training that my coach says will make me very fit.  I'm starting to get the itch to do some workouts again.  Then, maybe I'll think about some racing.  I'm also anxious to begin the slow process of losing some of my post-marathon fluff.  I like to let my body fluff up a bit after a marathon because I firmly believe that staying at "racing weight" for an extended period of time is unhealthy.  It always comes off in good time as workout intensity and weekly mileage increase.  Right now, that's the last thing on my mind as I get ready for a yummy dinner with the Genius! 

Happy Valentine's Day!   

Sally Effin' Forth

I am happy to report that I am really enjoying my post-Trials recovery.  After sitting with the outcome for a while, I am content with all of my decisions and the result.  My choice to finish the race and end up DFL was a good one for me.  I look at my finisher's medal with pride.  It symbolizes a journey that started back in 2006, when I first began to dream about running in the Olympic Trials.  I didn't have a choice but to finish the race and fulfill that dream.

For the last 6 years, I have either been training with the intent of qualifying for the Trials or attempting to train for the Trials race.  I have not had a break from that.  I recognize that this is one of those brief moments in my life, like the window right after graduating from college or being in between jobs, where I have the opportunity to truly rest and reset.  I'm taking advantage of this moment.  It hasn't been easy to let go of those ingrained reflexes that require me to rate every daily decision based on how it will impact my running life.  None of that matters right now.  I eat the candy bar my co-worker offers me.  I have 1-3 glasses of wine with dinner every night.  I do not feel guilty that I didn't do a lick of exercise all week.

I will admit that this process was made easier when I got my post-race instructions from my coach.  He didn't advise me on the eating or drinking, but these were his instructions for running for the month starting January 15th:

• Week 1:  do nothing;
• Weeks 2 & 3:  jog a little if ready, but not more than 4 miles per day, no cross training; 
• Week 4: 35 miles per week of jogging if ready, no cross training.

Overall Goals: let my body get out of shape and enjoy the break.

I'm meeting these goals.  In fact, you might say I'm exceeding them.  I didn't do my first post-Trials run until this morning.  This wasn't because I was hurt.  I just didn't want to run yet. A year ago, I would not have been able to do this because I would have been too paranoid about allowing myself to get out of shape.  It was refreshing to be told to get out of shape.  This takes practice and a small leap of faith to trust in the fact that 1) I won't lose my fitness forever; and 2) it will come back relatively quickly.

I spent 17 training cycles worrying about losing fitness every time I completed a marathon.  I hated taking any time off and was always anxious to get back at it.  I hated the fact that my tempo, marathon and 5k paces had to be dialed back following the race and then I'd have to work on getting my speed back to the same pre-marathon level before being able to get any faster.  I always had a voice nagging in the back of my brain telling me that I wouldn't get back to the same level let alone become faster.  I ripped out her voice box the other day when I realized that the old approach left me stuck in a continuous training loop that was limiting my potential.    

I am in Arizona presently, enjoying some wonderful weather and fantastic hospitality from the Camberg family.  Kerry Camberg is an inspiration to me and is someone I would not have met had it not been for our common goal of making it to the Trials.  We were both part of Julie Threlkeld's brainchild called  Houston Hopefuls.  I'm not quite sure that Julie knows how this pet project of hers connected so many of us masters' marathoners across the country.  One big regret in Houston was not getting to meet Julie in person.  She had to leave the day before the race because of a tragic death in her family.

Aside from getting to visit the Cambergs, I am here in AZ to see Dr. Ball.  Before the Trials, my biggest fear was that I would come out the other side of the race injured and unable to run for months.  In order to placate my inner worrywart in the weeks before the Trials, I made plans to come to Arizona post race to try to knock out any of the shiznit left in my hizzouse.

Lucky for me, the two treatments that Doc Ball did in Houston left me feeling pretty darn good post race. I actually felt better 3 days after the race than I did as many days before the Trials.  I was also fortunate in Houston to meet Doc Ball's friend Tim who designs strength training plans for athletes.  I took his card and told him I'd contact him after the race to talk about designing something for me.

Tim works with Doc Ball and his team by first addressing any functional strength issues.  Tomorrow, I'll go through a series of strength and flexibility tests to identify my weaknesses and strengths.  Tim will develop a strength plan for me, and I'll give him feedback as I implement it.  He will also help me figure out when to do the exercises based on my run training plan both within a weekly schedule as well as within my training blocks.  Once my functional strength is good, he'll help me develop a strength program to improve my performance.  I'm pretty excited about this next phase of my training.

Today, Doc Ball dug in hard and I'm not walking quite right at the moment.  He also had me run through a set of exercises designed to maintain/improve my range of motion.  As he explained it, our bodies respond to the way we use them.  Most runners, myself included, spend the vast majority of their training time running at a pace that utilizes a very limited range of motion.  So, our muscles adjust and tighten to that limited range.  This generally leads to cemented hip capsules and hamstrings and quads as tight as a tick.  This range just gets worse the more we run unless we introduce that full range of motion often enough in our training to maintain or improve it.  These exercises are not easy, and I have a feeling that I will resemble Quasimodo in the morning.  But, I believe they will work.

I plan to spend the next few weeks jogging around aimlessly in order to find my joy in running again.  I have run with pain and fear for so many months that I lost that spark.  I started to see it glimmering in my short run today.  These next few months will start to lay a strong foundation off which a mighty progression of training will be built and will culminate in.....

Nah. You'll have to wait to hear about that!