It's Frickin' Cold Out There!

Yesterday's Net Calories:  1,985

After yesterday's predicament, I decided to do a longer long run - in the 12 to 14 mile range.  I decided that I hadn't done a really long run like this in a while and I should do it on a morning that wasn't rainy/snowy/icy.

Last night I checked the weather forecast.  Overnight low of 18 degrees.  BRRRRRRR.  I thought that it would probably be in the mid-20s when I first went out to run, so I laid out my Mizuno BreathThermo long sleeve top, running jacket, running tights, and since it would dark out when I started my run - my reflector vest and my day-glow yellow running gloves.  I also laid out my Amphipod water belt with a few packs of GU, some cash and my cell phone.

For some reason I didn't sleep too well last night.  I ended up waking up a few times and looking at the clock to see if it was time to go on my run yet.  Finally 5:30am rolled around and I got out of bed and ready for my run.

During the first few minutes of my run, I felt COLD.  Toes and fingers were freezing up a bit.  I thought that perhaps I should have worn one of my other pairs of running gloves that are a bit thicker and warmer.  However, after about 15 minutes my toes and fingers had warmed up - as usual.

On the route that I took, there were three different turns that I could turn which would make the run either 12.3, 13.5 or 13.8 miles.  As I was chugging up Great Seneca Highway - about 4 miles into my run - I decided to take the first turn and make this a 12.3 miler.  It was definitely cold outside and I remembered that the last time I had run 13 miles was during the Parks Half Marathon in September...and due to the humidity I did not run all 13 miles.  I wondered when the last time I actually had run this distance was (I just checked my running log - the last time I ran 13 miles was at the Riley's Rumble Half Marathon in July...I walked the big hills on that run, and before that was at the Frederick Marathon in May!)

It ended up being a good idea to only have done the 12.3 miler, as I was to find out...

I had started to drink water from one of the three water bottles on my water belt, and as the water level in that bottle went down, the water that was at the top started to freeze.  The ice at the top of the bottle made it tough to drink from.  I wonder what runners up North do to keep this from happening?  Put salt in the water?  Perhaps Gatorade has a lower freezing point than water?

However, the thing I was not prepared for was that about 7 miles into my run my fingers started getting cold again.  YIKES!  Normally, when I go for a run on a cold day my fingers will be cold initially but then they'll warm up and I'll be fine for the rest of the run.  I don't ever remember my fingers chilling up again.  I really thought I was going to get frostbite and again I wished I had worn my thicker, warmer gloves.  I kept alternating between wrapping my fingers around my thumbs to warm my thumbs and making a fist and closing my thumb over my fingers to warm up my fingers.  I had even considered calling Sherry to come and pick me up and drive me home...  Then I remembered a passage that I had read recently about the mental side of running - that we are capable of doing more than we think we can.  So, I was convinced that I could make it home - frostbitten hands or not.

At one point I looked at my hands - and saw the thumbholes at the end of the sleeves on my running jacket.  I never got the whole thumbhole thing.  I mean - it's my fingers that always get cold...what good will thumbholes do?  My fingers will still be exposed to the cold, right.  While I was looking at the thumbholes, though, the idea hit me - pull the sleeves of my jacket OVER your clenched fists.  I did this and within minutes my fingers started to warm up again.  HOORAY!!

By this time it was an hour and 45 minutes into my run already, and I realized that I had not consumed any of the GU I brought along.  I usually take one about an hour into my run, but I had forgotten at that point - and then I had to deal with freezing water and near frostbitten fingers.  I took a GU packet and put it in my hand (which was still in my sleeve) to try and warm the thing up.  After a few minutes I finally ate the GU - even with warming it up a bit, it still had a near-solid consistency.  It was very weird.

I went to wash the GU down with water.  The water in the water bottle I had already started drinking from had turned to ice.  I swapped it with one of the other water bottles and popped the top up.  No water came out.  UGH!!!  I stopped and unscrewed the top from the bottle - water had frozen at the top and blocked the pop top!

When I finally got home, I really wanted to know just how cold it was during my run.  The temperatures ranged from 17 to 19 degrees while I was out for my run.  Once again, BRRRRRRR.  No wonder I had so many issues!

Final stats:  12.27 miles, 2:15:45 - 11:04/mile pace.  155 bpm avg HR.

This now puts me only 5 miles behind the 1,000 mile pace bunny.  Watch out you rascally rabbit!

5,000 Meters of Intervals

This morning's run was 5 x 1,000m at race pace with a 2 minute recovery between intervals. I'm still trying to train to an 8:00/mile race pace - and instead of a full 2 minute recovery between intervals, I did a 200m recovery (i.e. finishing out the third time around the track during each interval) so I didn't have to remember where I started each set of intervals.

I jogged up to the High School track around 6:15am. School starts today here in Montgomery County, MD, so I knew that by the time my workout was over the parking lot would start to fill with students. I thought to myself, "I'm glad this will be one of my last track workouts for a while..."

I lined up on the track at the beginning of one of the straight-aways and took off. I decided I would check the lap time on my watch every 200m to ensure I was within range of the 8:00/mile pace. For the entire morning, I was somewhere between 0:56 to 1:03 on each 200m. I'm feeling a lot more confident that I have this 8:00/mile pace down!

The split for my first interval was 5:00.4. Can't get too much better than that. The second interval's split was 4:56.7. During the second interval, I started breathing heavier, however, I kept my breathing in a good rhythm. As I started the third interval, I was telling myself that after this, I have less than half way to go! I finished the third interval in 4:59.1.

However, I was starting to get tired. I had run nearly 2 miles at the 8:00/mile pace - just as I had done the past two weekends - and I now could feel my body pushing harder to keep up that pace. I kept telling myself to keep pushing. I repeated a mantra - keep up the pace. I know that at this point of the race next weekend I'll be facing an incline - how am I going to get through that if it feels so tough on a pancake-flat racetrack?

I pushed through and finished interval number four in 4:57.5. One more interval left. I had run 4K by now - and only 1,000 meters left. My legs did not want to do it. I could feel them getting a bit tight...perhaps lactic acid settling in from all of my "fast" running (for me this is fast - but I received quite a dose of reality the past two weeks watching the Olympics).

Up until this point, I was able to get my heart rate down below 150 on my 200m recovery. However, after the fourth interval I was still a bit above 150 when I was about to hit my starting point. Instead of starting to run, I turned around on the outside of the track for about 5-10 meters and then came back. The extra 10-20 meters were just what I needed to get my heart rate down and ready for the final interval.

Although my legs may not have been ready to go, my mind was. I pushed through, doing the first 200 meters in 0:56. My 400m split was somewhere around 1:57. "One and a half more laps and I'm done," I thought to myself. I can do this.

As I was coming around the track the second time, there were two new runners who were entering the track. I was on the final 200m of my interval as they entered. I had no idea what pace they were going to be running at, however, I knew that I did not want them passing me before I finished this thing out. I didn't have much left in the tank, but I pushed it up that final straightaway and around the final turn.

Last 1,000m split - 4:48.5

The full 5K time (just the intervals) was 24:42. I had small breaks in between each 1,000, and this was done on a flat track and not a hilly race course, so I know that this is not fully indicative of how I will perform at this weekend's race. However, I see that a sub-25min 5K is within my reach...pretty amazing given that 10 years ago a sub-35min 5K was unattainable.

Speedwork - 10 Miles...UGH!

I have been doing my speedwork during the mid-week "longer" run. This week, the mid-week "longer" run mileage peaks at 10 miles. Pretty crazy that 10 weeks ago this was my weekend long run and now it is just a mid-week run.

My plan - wake up at 5am (so that I could get this long run in and start working at a decent time), jog to the Quince Orchard High School track (that's pronounced "kwinse" - like the fruit; not "keen-say" like 15 in Spanish), run 9 x 800 with a 400 recovery jog, and do an easy run back home.

Again, it was dark when I started so I was running by feel and could not see what my interval times were. I knew that I was running hard. I knew I was running faster than normal. I just didn't know HOW fast until I got home and checked my splits (see below). It ended up that I had two sub-3:50 half mile splits and one other sub-4:00 split. I'm thinking that my splits should be in the 4:05 to 4:10 range, so I know I was hauling it out there. Of course, once the sun rose I was able to run a bit more controlled as I was able to see the feedback from my HRM.

During the last few intervals I really wanted to quit. But of course I didn't. I had to get through this workout - just like every other workout leading up to the marathon. This is part of that mental toughness that I have developed that will get me across the finish line on May 4.

I really started to think about why each of my four runs per week are important. The speedwork runs is where I improve my pace, develop the "fast twitch" muscle fibers which will help me at the end of a race and make me a stronger runner. The weekend long runs improve my endurance and get my body used to pounding the pavement for extended periods of time. The other two easy runs help my body recover from the harder workouts, and also help "lock-in" the gains. So, with 3 intervals to go and part of me was begging to quit - I knew that I needed those last three intervals to help make me a stronger runner...both physically and mentally.

Here's the splits:
3:49, 4:01, 3:47, 4:04, 3:51, 4:01, 4:07, 4:10, 4:07

Oh...one other mention. Another milestone! Somewhere during my time on the track I hit 350 miles for the year. It's not even May yet! I think a few years ago I had 400 miles for the year...crazy!

Spirit of the Marathon - Review

Today's Total Calorie Intake:  2326

(Exercise Calories:  361)

Total Net Calories:  1965

I went to see The Spirit of the Marathon tonight.  The movie follows 6 different people who planned to run the 2005 Chicago Marathon (luckily, they were not filming the 2007 Chicago Marathon which ended up being pretty disastrous).  It followed them through their training and then through the race.  It featured two elite athletes, two first-time marathoners and two repeat marathoners (one trying to qualify for Boston).  Of course, I related to the stories of the first time marathoners the closest (and they both finished the race - with respectable times to boot - which put me a little more at ease for May 4).

The movie was inspiring to me - knowing that all of this training will pay off and I will cross the finish line.  However, there were also one thing that this movie brought to light which I had not thought much about yet - Hitting "The Wall".  Basically, there comes a time in the marathon where you have pretty much used up your stored and available energy and you end up "running on fumes".  This happens to many marathoners somewhere around 20 miles into the race - so if you hit the wall at this point you end up running the last 10K "on fumes".

And it looks painful.

The movie didn't dwell on this much, but as they showed many of the race participants towards the end of the race I could see from their faces that this was a mind-over-matter struggle.  After running for over 3 or 4 hours (I'm talking normal people here - not the elite runners), it looks like your body is in physical pain yet your brain is making your body continue.

I know that I'm currently training myself up to be strong enough physically to run this race.  However, after watching some of the race footage, I'm wondering if there is some way I can train myself mentally to be strong enough to run through the pain?  Is just getting my behind out of bed at before the sun rises four days a week to run enough mind-over-matter training to get through the physical discomfort of miles 20 through 26.2????  I hope so...