Helping Others Smile and Move

On Sunday, Dave and I volunteered at the Perk Up Half Marathon, aka the Hurricane Half. Sunday marked the second attempt at the race's innaugural event. In 2011, Hurricane Irene and her flooding rains and tree felling winds put the kabash on attempt number 1. 

Several of my running and walking buddies participated in the event. Here is a photo of them after they all finished! I was only back from vacation the Tuesday before and did not feel I'd be ready. This makes me wimp #1. For two of the ladies in this photo, Perk up was their second in as many weeks and another had just returned from vacation the DAY before. These people are rock stars! 

Anyway, the race sounded like fun and when the organizers put a call for more volunteers I decided to sign up for that. Someone asked me if Perki, our running group mascot would be there.

Run - Breakfast - Ride

That was my morning excercise and all finished before noon! The purists (whoever they are) would probably tell me that breakfast in between is not appropriate. The purists do not have the awesome running and walking friends that I have. We slog through rain, heat, snow and cold often and together. It would take a serious family emergency to make me miss breakfast (or other social opportunity with them). They are my second family.
SOMEONE (ok me) suggested a 6:00 am start for those of us doing 12 today. The 4:30 am alarm had me questioning my sanity and wondering how many others may have been muttering at me as well. Still once you get your butt out of bed it's not so bad and there ended up being 10 of us taking off from the diner trailhead at 6 am.

I started off at 3 and 1 intervals through the first three miles. I was feeling pretty good so I switched to 4 and 1 for the next 3. I tried to push my run intervals a bit. I probably shouldn't do that on long run Saturdays but I had it in my head that I wanted to keep under 12 minutes miles (my long run average). I accomplished that for the first 6. Unfortunately, time and again people say go slow on the way out and pick it up on the way back. And there is a reason for that. I ended up switching back to 3 and 1 and my average for the whole run was over 12 minute miles. Still I finished it and really didn't feel too bad. Here is my run off the Garmin.

I tried to do without gus or chomps this time. I packed rehydrated dried apricots and chocolate covered raisins today. I had one apricot and three raisins at mile 1 (by this time it had been 1.5 hours since grabbing a glass of milk and a blueberry muffin on the way out the door) and repeated every 2 miles. I stopped at mile 7 when I had a very slight intestinal cramp. It only lasted a few minutes but I think next time I'll go every 3 miles instead of 2. I wore the camelback today. It felt heavy and uncomfortable at the beginning but after a mile I was fine and glad I had it. I'm not sure why it was weird at the beginning. Probably wasn't sitting right on my back and I was too intent on my time to fix it. :(

I have to say that doing your homework (weekday workouts) makes a big difference. This route was flat for the most part. There are only three spots with significant climbs and I was pleased to make two of them without wanting to stop before, during or after. The third is between mile 9 and 8 on the return winding up the hill and around the bend to go over the creek. I dragged out my run portion so that the walk came for that. *Shrug*.

I was grateful for company on the way back too. Caroline B started at 7 am to do 10 and turned aournd when she and I met on the trail. We finished the last five together. Having someone to chat with always makes the miles go by pleasantly.

We all had a wonderful breakfast and visit. I estimate there were at least 22 of us at breakfast. The Collegeville Diner is right on the Perkiomen Trail and doesn't mind sweaty, disheveled looking runners and walkers a bit. The food is good too!

I drove home and got on the bike. Here is the route via Garmin. It was just over 10 miles as planned. In the interest of full disclosure I had trouble coming up Rose Valley Road. I had to get off and walk the latter part of it. I just didn't have enough in my legs to keep moving. So I have a challenge now - to make that route without getting off the bike.

In and around where I live it's hard to stay flat. I learned that early in my running. You can stay flat but you have to run circles basically. And really I don't want to stay flat I have to do hills eventually. I knew that my chosen route today was going to be a net descent for the first 5 miles. I purposely chose Rose Valley Road to come back figuring that if I struggled at least it wasn't as busy a street as 252. What I forgot was that Rose Valley Road goes downhill even further before coming back up again. UGH!

I'm questioning my route for tomorrow now. I wanted to extend my distance to 15 and was going to go out Providence Road to West Chester Pike and come back through Ridely Creek State Park. I wonder now if I'm ready for the hills on Providence Road. They would be earlier in the ride, not as steep and I will not have run 12 before them so maybe it will be ok. I'll see how I feel in the morning. The alternative is to put the bike in the car and head out to the Schuylkill River Trail. I can't avoid hills forever nor do I want to but I could practice them on shorter specific rides during the week. I don't want to do too much too fast and get hurt or discouraged.

Balance

Last night a group of us went to the Audubon Loop for hillwork. Our goal was 5 times up and down the hill. Amy earned Queen of the Hill honors for doing all 5 in good stead AND then going up for another half. Peer pressure is big in this group but none of us joined her for that last bit.

I power walked the uphills and jogged the downs. I told myself at one point that practicing the downhill is just as important. One can rationalize anything if one tries hard enough. I didn't feel like I had it in me to do run the uphills. I'm wondering now how much of that was the heat & humidity, the bike ride I did first or just plain mental breakdown. Maybe a combination? As we jogged over to the hill I was already wondering if I could do it. I wondered if riding my bike was such a good idea first. I think I psyched myself out of running the hill before I even got there. I was just so anxious to get out and ride.

So how do I balance the biking with the running? I don't know the answer. I've tried to research it but - as you might expect - the advice is all over the place. As with running it will be read, ask questions, try stuff and see what works for me.

So what do I want to accomplish right now?
- I want to build a base of riding miles.
- I have three half marathons in Sept, Oct and Nov so I want to keep running. And even after that I'm not giving up running. It's my understanding that the two actitvites are not mutually exclusive and in fact compliment eachother.
- I'm also old - at least my body is - and one, preferably two, rest days have become a necessity.

After thinking (yes, probably over thinking) this last night I've come up with a plan that allows three days a week riding, three days a week biking and two rest days.

Monday - OFF
Tuesday - Run(speed or hills)
Wednesday - Ride
Thursday - Run(tempo or progression run)
Friday - OFF
Saturday - Long run followed by easy bike
Sunday - Long bike ride

I'm going to also try to work in 4 week blocks. 3 weeks of increasing miles and the 4th week cutting back. I'm following phillyfit's marathon schedule through the 15 miler which doesn't exactly follow the 3 up one back schedule so I'm going to work with total miles (bike + run) through The Philly half in November and see where that leaves me.

Any of you who have tried to follow my progress in this blog before know that I'm prone to changing things up. I don't really like that about myself. It is what it is but I'd like to do better. I'm hoping that by working on total weekly miles I'll be better able to stick with the plan better. Stay tuned and thanks for reading. I welcome your comments, thoughts and advice.

I can do this!

13 miles today. I feel great. I truly do.

This is my increase week. After two weeks at 25 miles per week. I am due for 27 this week (Mon-Sun). I wanted 13 today so I adjusted the rest of my schedule accordingly. Tues - 2 miles; Wed - 4 miles and Thurs - 2 miles. Sat - 13 miles and Sun 6 miles.

I did my 2 miles on Tuesday at the Audobon Loop HILL. I need hill work. I parked at the gravel lot and jogged over to the hill for warm up. I set my gymboss for 30 sec and 15 seconds. When I got to the hill I started the timer. I ran steady up for 30 seconds then walked down for 15. I repeated this four times. On the fourth time I continued past the beep to the top of the hill (the old stone tower). I'm happy to say I was almost there anyway. I turned around and jogged back down and back to the gravel lot for a total of 2 miles. Eventually I'd like to  I will get to the point where I can do hill repeats from top to bottom.

On Wednesady I met John T at the Chester Valley trail for a little over 4 miles total. I like these weekday runs with John and other Phillyfitters. I end up going much faster than I would alone and that's good for me.

Thursday I taught new member orienation at work. Typically I bag my runs after NMO. I am drained after them. I love doing them but it's a lot of work being 'on' for 8 hours. And for a girl who prefers sneakers or bare feet even the smallest heel is difficult for that long. But I'm really trying to have no tolerance for excuses so I brought my running gear to work and changed there. I stopped at Ridley Creek State Park and went out for two miles. It was awful. I did it but it was awful. It hurt and I felt like crap. However, I was pretty excited that I did it anyway.

I came into today determined to focus on my breathing and my posture. My watch was set to beep at mile intervals where I could take a walk break. For the most part I stuck to that. There were a few extra breaks; at the turnaround, the restrooms and one stop for gravel removal from John's shoe. I ran the first 3 with Russ, Maggi and John T. The next 2 with Maggi and John and the remaining miles with John. Bless him for sticking it out when he had only planned to do 9 or 10. Running really is better with buddies. :)

Focusing on my breathing was to keep me from going out too fast. I decided it didn't matter what this did to my run pace I have 6 miles tomorow I didn't want to be dreading that. I focused on my posture to avoid fatigue in my neck and shoulders. It worked :). I'm happy to say the limiting factor in today's run was my legs. By mile 11 they were feeling quite heavy. Even that wasn't terribly bad. I was certainly happy to be done at 13 but I also felt like I could have gone another mile if I really had do.

I am really happy with the pace too. It was a comfortable I-can-still-talk pace. Yet when I checked it periodically (about once each mile) it was around 10:20-10:30. With the walk breaks the overall pace was 11:36. Not bad for me right now. I have a long way to go to get to my 2:15 half marathon but I also have 8 months to get there.

I was pleased that through mile 10 I was not looking at my watch begging it to move faster to the walk break. I was often pleasantly surprised when it beeped.

Next week is the 4th week in this plan I've worked up so only 13 miles total for the week. All I have to do is get through the 6 tomorrow. After the successes of today I'm NOT dreading that. Of course my legs might be telling me a different story tomorrow morning but I'll get through it.

SUNDAY UPDATE: I finished the 6 miles. My legs actually felt ok this morning. Alleve at bedtime helped. My brain however was a little skeptical. I debated going out of my neighborhood - maybe on some trail at RCSP. In the end I decided on two 3 mile ciruits around my house. This way I wouldnt have to carry my water belt. I left it on the front porch and stopped their for a drink after 3 then continued on. I set my gymboss for 3 and 1's but put it in my jacket pocket. I only wanted to use that for backup. I really wanted to continue with 1 mile intervals. I didn't have to resort to the gymboss. :) My pace was pretty slow but also fairly steady and I only walked at the mile breaks for 1 minute each time. So all in all a good outing.

Oh and someone commented that 2:30 is slower than 10:20-10:30 pace. That is true. I should have made clear that was only through the first 10. I slowed up in the last three.

Recap of my week.

Well I did it. It wasn't pretty but I kept my promise to complete 25  miles for the week. Today was a test of the committment and I'm pleased to say I passed. After yesterday's 10 miles on the hills I needed 6 more today to get to 25.

Emma and I met Pete and John at Ridley Creek State Park for some trail running. The first mile my legs were fine. After that they were a little annoyed with me. "Hello!!?? Remember the 10 very hilly miles yesterday?" It was tough to ignore the whining. I bailed on the last trail hill up the white trail. If you know the park this takes you straight up from the lower part of the paved loop to the upper. I chose to run back on the paved loop and met them at the parking lot.

This put just under 4 miles on my total. So when we arrived home I let Emma back in the house and headed out for the balance. It was hard but I can honestly say I did it.

Nest week is an increase week - 27 wth 13 mile long run on Saturday. But first, a rest day tomorrow :) :)

Keeping up with myself; Lessons learned on a hilly 10 mile course.

Today, after much back and forth in the week leading up to it I finally settled on running the Quakertown Rotary Run for Youth. It is a 10 mile run that Maggi suggested - or as more appropriately HELPED Julius and I decide to run. I'm glad for her help.

I wanted to treat this as a training run. It was the right amount of miles; the race fee was for a good cause and given the weather conditions it was more likely I could run with people if I attended the race. As it turned out the rain pretty much stopped just before we started and the sun came out for my last half mile.

So as a training run I set my goal at anything under 2 hours. About 2/3 of the way through I was convinced I wasn't going to make it. I did not have my watch (I don't race with it) and being a local race there were no timers at the mile markers; only at the end.

This hills on this course made the 8th street hill in Media, the Audobon Loop and the Valley Forge loop look like child's play. We also had some nice long slow downhills and one 11% grade downhill but the ups got me. Good news is that the got my legs more than my cardio. I was also pleased that I didn't let the hills get into my head. I walked more than I would have liked but I still made it in less than 2 hours so all is good.

Maggi and Julius eventually (about halfway) put some distance between us and ultimately were a good half mile ahead of me. If it wasn't for Julius' tallness and Maggi's bright  colors I would have lost sight of them completely. It was after our separation that I heard footstesp behind me. Despite that this was supposed to be just a training run I couldn't help thinking I did not want to be passed or left in the dust by anyone else. This got me to pick up the pace for a bit and I'm happy to say it didn't hurt to do so - for a little bit anyway. I finally backed off again not wanting to risk not having anything left for the final hill. So the feet and the gentleman attached to them pulled up beside me and he said, "I'm having trouble keeping up with you". I replied "I'm having trouble keeping up with myself". We ran and walked side by side for another mile and then he too moved on ahead.

I got a lift at mile 8 because I never saw the number 7 on the road. Each mile was marked in green  chalk on the street in rather large numbers. Not sure how I missed it but it was nice to go from thinking I had 3 miles left to only having 2. :)

So today's lesson is DO MORE HILL WORK. Not that I didn't already know that deep down. I was pleased with my finish and pleased that I felt comfortable most of the time.

My schedule had 11 on it for today. I am happy with the 10 however and it's likely i'll do more than the planned 5 with the trail gang tomorrow so I'll still manage my mileage for the week. 21 down 6 to go.

4 miles, 2 hills (twice each), Wind Chill 17

I had way too much fun on this, day #17. I wanted to do a hill workout so I ran a route that takes me on two hills in Media. Edgmont Road is a long slow climb for 5 blocks and 8th Street is a short steeper climb for 2 blocks. In between the two the route is up and down as well but much shorter pieces than either of those. In fact, the ones in between are just short enough to give me a burst then a break. Two circuits of this route then back home is just shy of 4 miles so I run down my street and back to make it 4. My average pace was under 12 the entire way. I think I could have run harder. So now, I have something to shoot for next time.

I love cold weather running. I discovered that last year actually. I thought maybe it was just the snow but there hasn't been any snow yet (unless you count the freak storm on Halloween which I don't because it was gone in hours). I feel strong in the cold and things don't hurt as quickly. I guess the cold keeps the swelling down in my old joints. Whatever it is, I'm having fun.