Whew! I thought for sure this spring and summer would bring about a resurgence in my blogging about running-related topics, in part due to the fact that I was happily recovering from the most annoying injury I've ever sustained (patellafemoral pain syndrome, aka runner's knee, aka the first serious running injury I've ever had. and the biggest stress on my relationship with the boyfriend and roommate and pretty much any friend, who isn't also family because I didn't want my family to realize the severity of (injury/insanity sans running/addiction to running), because I was a serious pain in the ass for two months). And yet, despite feeling as though my training has been coming along well, and regaining fitness surprisingly quickly, I haven't written much of anything about running in the past few months. I'll go ahead and blame the phase of the PhD I've entered for this, which I will fondly refer to as the "I've got so much fucking shit to write" phase. I'd imagine this is not going to lessen over the coming months, since I'm hoping to defend next summer (oh God, I just wrote that on the internet; what have I done?!), and I haven't even started writing my thesis yet.
That being said, I'm currently trapped in a flying metal tube of death, too caffeinated to sleep and too tired to work, so I figured I'd post briefly about what I've been up to for the last few months.
I trained for most of the spring for shorter distances, focusing on the Cleveland Marathon 10k in mid-May. The abridged version of the race itself was, for a race of that distance, I should probably just not wear a watch, especially at a big, competitive race. The mile markers were insanely off and I got inside my own head after seeing 6:06, 6:02, and 6:24 for miles 1, 2, and 3. If I'd just been watch-less, I'd have trusted my instincts, which were pretty sure I was running around 5:50 pace, which was what I wanted to run. Instead, I tore myself apart and slowed down, sure that I was having a terrible day. I was very surprised to see 37:30something at the finish line (6:00 pace), implying that (a) I was correct in my estimate of pace for the first few miles, and (b) that I hadn't slowed down as much as I had thought. On the other hand, I'm sure sub-37:00 would have been in the cards had I been slightly less of a nutjob.
There were, however, a bunch of positives I'm coming away with from the spring. I had a great reintroduction into hard training, and I'm feeling strong and fast after all that track work which accompanies training for not the marathon. This was the first season since high school where I trained in earnest for anything shorter than the full 26.2 (and only my 4th serious season of training since high school). It was certainly the right thing to do to work on a shorter distance, and I really enjoyed it. I liked going out and running 400s at a pace faster than I've ever run a single mile. I liked having 1000 meter repeats faster than I'd ever done that workout before, every single week. Sunday morning "long runs" of 12 miles were plenty long, and left me with a bunch of the day and energy for other things. It was fun to train with my roommate, who is beast focusing on the 5k and 10k. I liked knowing that the strength training I'd incorporated into my schedule while injured was going to be valuable for the race distance I was working on, rather than just feeling like it was a chore. And it was nice to count to 70, with satisfaction, and know I was running enough mileage for a pretty solid 10k.
I also trained through a few 5ks along the way to Cleveland, finally breaking the 18:00 mark. Amazingly, I can break 18:00 in the height of 10k training but not marathon training. Who knew? I've been kind of gnawing on the idea of racing a flat, fast, cool, 5k actually fresh, because I have convinced myself I'm in 17:30 shape on the right day. But I've decided to let that thought percolate for now, since I'm sure I'll have more 10k training seasons in the future. I don't feel like I'm losing speed fast enough to worry about hitting that particular benchmark right this second, which is good, because
I am in serious marathon-training mode now!
The plan is to run the Chicago Marathon with my bestest training buddy, L-Sauce. It's a special race for run for both of us, since it was both of our first marathons, before we knew each other! We even ran it the same year and finished less than 10 minutes apart. Anyway, I'm stoked: I know the course, the course is fast, I'm feeling strong, and I have 12 weeks to really build the threshold work I need. I've kept up my PT from injury in the fall and have been strength training with my awesome roommate/beast a couple days a week. I completed my base mileage period: with my weekly mileage at 80, 80, 90, 90, 82, 82. I learned that 80ish mile weeks are totally sustainable, and that I'm a total nightmare running 90. For some reason, that extra hour of running makes it impossible for me to keep control of my life/emotions. I managed to run 62 days straight without a day off... I completed the whole gamut of high mileage early this summer.
I just had a much-needed down week of 65 miles, including a day off, which made me feel like a rock star. [This may also explain why I have energy to write about running at the moment]. My one workout last week went perfectly; L and I had a great long run where we averaged 7:20 pace for 20 miles, and I didn't feel like garbage! My legs feel fresh and ready for work. Which is good, because that's what's coming up: some serious work. Chicago will be the time to reap the benefits of what I'm sure will be a grueling buildup.
