The 7 of '07

I'm taking a page (or stealing an idea) from fellow runners as I reflect on the year that has passed. In a number of ways, 2007 has exceeded my expectations. To say that 2006 was a rough year for me would have been a grave understatement. I knew 2007 had to look up, and, indeed, it did. This was true of my running as well. I know some runner/bloggers go for the Top 10 running moments when they compile a list such as this. I'm not sure I have ten, but we'll see how far we get. In no particular order:

1) Discovering the joys of Tinicum. It really wasn't until 2007 that I came to realize how fortunate I am to have this wonderful place to run. One run stands out for me in particular. It was late May and Amy and I ran the figure eight loop counting along the way the number of turtles (most of which were actively laying eggs) and the number of bunnies. It was a close contest. Amy was pulling for the turtles, but in the end, the bunnies with their reproductive zeal took the prize. Turns out bunnies and turtles aren't the only things that procreate in Tinicum - that I will never forget either.

2) My first real run with Seebo. Yes, as mostly everyone knows, he is SPRNTC fast and I, well, am not. I was nervous about it and fought dozens of inner demons along the way. I survived, but the scene has not recurred since then. Hmmm. Maybe in '08.

3) Not running the Stone Harbor 10k. How could not running a race be memorable you ask? Well, I thought I was going to have to run it. As an honorary member of Philadelphia Athletic Charities running club, I was going to 'take one for the team' if they needed a female entrant (other team members' performances don't count if there is not at least one female member). It was August, it was hot and sticky and sunny - as bad as it can be, or worse, on a late summer late morning. I was thrilled to see some of the other PAC women in their running gear... which meant that in no time, I was changing into my bathing suit and ready to swim in the ocean. Of course, I had to be polite and cheer the other runners on, but eventually, I did get to play in the waves.

4) PR-a-palooza 2007. I was consistently surprised throughout the year, especially during the second half, when my race times improved one after the next. I'm not going to rehash each one, but suffice it to say that it was nice to see that pushing myself in my training runs paid off during my fall racing season. I PR-ed at 5k, 15k, and half marathon distances. I felt most pleased by my Distance Run performance; it was just one of those perfect days where everything seemed to come together and the fact that I forgot my watch actually seemed to help me.

5) Using my health insurance plan. There were certainly times in my life when I didn't have health insurance and really could have used it. Mostly, I'm a healthy lass and require little to no medical attention. This year, my hip was giving me some issues, so I decided to enlist my trusty HMO (yes, that was a joke) to investigate the problem. I had X-rays, an MRI, Physical Therapy, the works! And, yes, the hip seems like it's doing much better.

6) My First Schwag! Indeed, an exciting occurrence for me, and I didn't even do it on purpose. In fact, I wouldn't have even known that I had won 3rd place in my age group if it hadn't been for a nice woman I met during the race (who, incidentally, won 2nd place in the same age group). It was an unseasonably warm day and I was disappointed that Seebo wasn't running it due to his hobbled condition, but the race went well and I got to sip Mimosas with my sweety to celebrate the race where we originally met the year prior.

7) Running with the Canna-Clan: There were a few occurrences throughout the year where I had the opportunity to run with my family - some configuration of my sister, Tammy, my brother, Scott, and my sister-in-law, Sarah. They all live in Denver at the moment, so these opportunities are rare. Tammy was out here last January for a convention and I took that opportunity to run part of Tinicum with her. I was out in Denver in March and Sarah and I ran a good 10 mile stretch of somewhere. Then Scott and Sarah were here for Thanksgiving and we again ran Tinicum. Finally, exactly one week ago from today, we ran a bit out in Denver. I miss my family and love that we can share in running together.

I think that about sums it up for 2007. I'll stick with seven entries as that seems to be a lucky number and I can use all the luck I can get heading into 2008 as I have a lot to live up to in terms of my running and in other areas of my life. Best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy 2008.

Brisk Tinicum Morning

Just a quick post, as I'm only going to be here at work for a few hours before jetting off to Denver to hang with the FamDamily for the holidays.

Ran the same Tinicum/neighborhood route that I ran a few days ago. The mud had pretty much dried out, but there were a few obstacles on the path (in the form of downed trees/shrubs) that I had to negotiate. It was kind of funny how surprised I was by these 'changes' in the trail. Considering it is 'nature', after all, and the one constant in nature is change.

My legs felt a bit tight today and I had a weird tightening/numbness in my left forearm that crept up on me and hung on for about ten or fifteen minutes after my run. It's fine now. The run was okay. I felt like I was working hard. Again, I had those thoughts of easing up because I felt like I am still doing that thing where I'm more worried about running a good time than I am of actually enjoying the run. Guess it paid off in a way, though, as I ran the route about a minute and a half faster than I did last week.

Not sure what Denver holds for me in terms of running. I'll definitely get out there, but I'm such a wimp when it comes to hills and that's about all there seems to be around those parts!

5.1 in 42:25

I can live with that

Just a quick blog entry today as the forces of evil (aka: my employer) continue to load on the work. Merry Christmas.

Had an early morning PT session - which is close to my gym, so that's where I did my running today. I didn't feel great - my biorhythms must be on the down slope, but it wasn't horrible. Hip pain is still there, but tolerable. I don't know whether or not I'm fooling myself, but sometimes I think the pain has changed a little bit - migrated a little to a slightly different place in my hip. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

After my run, I did some stretching and noticed a small white plastic/shiny metal object sitting on a table. I quickly determined that it was a body fat measuring device. Ever since Seebo had his numbers run by his coworker, I've been curious about mine. No woman really wants to know what her body fat percentage is, but curiosity got the best of me.

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to just pick this device up and use it, but I figured if anyone minded, they could say so. Being the quick study I am, it didn't take me too long to figure out how the gadget worked. When I got my number, I didn't know what to make of it. (And, no, I will not divulge what it was). So, of course, I Googled "body fat percentage" and looked at several sites. Naturally, different sites had different ranges of what was normal, "good", "bad", etc. But overall, it seems that my number is slightly below the normal range for "normal" women and towards the upper end of the range for "athlete women". Okay... I can live with that.

5 miles in 41:26

Powered by Cookie

This weekend, I was happy to have my friend Brian in town for a little visit. He moved to Oklahoma (yes, on purpose) at the beginning of the summer and I have not seen him since then. Of course, having friends in town sometimes makes it difficult to find time to squeeze in a long run. I wasn't sure exactly how it was going to happen, but I know that I wanted it to happen, and that is for me at least 90% of the battle.

Brian's friend picked him up for the second leg of his Pennsylvania visit around 6pm last evening. By that time, it was dark and really, really windy outside... so, it was off to the gym for me. I had wisely stopped eating the Christmas cookies we had made earlier in the day, so I was feeling sugar-primed, but not overloaded for my run. Still, a long run on a treddy is not so much fun. I was left with my iPod and varying the speed and inclination on the treadmill to entertain myself.

The run felt pretty good and, like earlier in the week, all systems seemed to be working well together to allow me to run a bit faster than usual. My hip pain was there a little in the beginning, but not bad.

8.5 miles in 69:54

It's your biorhythms, stupid

In the seven years that I've been at this crazy sport, I have learned a lot. I won't bore myself (or you) with a summary of it all, but I will say that one thing that has largely escaped my learning is being able to figure out why some days I have 'good' runs and some days I have 'bad' runs. Of course, there are some factors that I know will contribute to a bad running day. For example, if I eat a lot of sugar and junk the day before, my legs - especially my calves - feel really tight and painful the next day. I don't really know why... I've chalked it up to some form of mild, temporary gout or something like that.... in my mind... all the sugar and junk trickles down to my calves and makes the muscles sticky. Makes sense, right?

But for the most part, I can't figure out why some days I feel great and other days not so much. I haven't found any consistent correlation with sleep, hydration, time of day, etc. Anyway... today was a good day and that is something to be happy about. I was on the treddy this morning and did the first warm-up mile at my usual warm-up pace (8:40), but as I starting increasing the mph's I found that my legs, heart, and lungs were responding really well. I felt great and as a result, kept the pace under 8:10, which for me is a bit faster than usual... and I probably could have even ramped it up beyond that. Cool. Of course, I'm not naive enough to totally trust it... I'm sure it's an anomaly and I'll be back to huffing and puffing to maintain an 8:20 pace sometime soon. But that's fine... it was nice to have a good day today.

In trying to figger out why today, Seebo suggested that perhaps it was related to my biorhythms. I had heard the term before, but was not familiar with what it really meant. Apparently, this was big in the 70s when I was like three. So, of course, I Googled it.... and wouldn't you know.... looks like today is right about at my 'peak' in terms of my physical cycle... which, of course, relates to my "strength, health, and raw physical vitality".



Who knows, maybe I'll start planning my race calendar to coincide with the peaks in my biorhythm cycles.

6 miles in 49:08

Pitfall

I don't know why I'm so resistant to running some mornings. I didn't even have the cold to complain about as it was a balmy 54 degrees when I set out around 7am. I felt pretty good on the half mile jaunt to Tinicum and was looking forward to a good, quick run around the initial loop. However, when I got to the 'interesting' part of the loop, I quickly realized that I would be better served being sure of foot, rather than swift. I was reminded of that cool 80s video game, Pitfall, except there were no alligators, scorpions (that I saw), or gold.. but there was plenty of mud and I did worry about about falling. I didn't fall, but I did have several Scooby-Doo moments - you know where your feet are moving, but there's no traction and you're not going anywhere.

I tacked on a little bit at the end to give me just over 5 miles.

5.1 in 43:50.

Ciabatta or Bust

Today it took me almost 80 minutes to get a sandwich from the WaWa half a mile up the road. I guess you could say I took the long way. What might be more accurate might be to say that I did a destination run, or rather, a reward run. The reward being one of the most scrumptious sandwiches in the WaWa line-up.

In planning my neighborhood route for today's run, I wasn't originally planning on hitting the Wa at the end, but like so many great ideas, this one just came to me out of the blue. Inspired, really.

Anyway.... so the run itself was pretty good. I consciously wanted to take it easy today to try and regain some of the joyfulness of running that I seem to have been losing as of late. Since I've grown accustomed to Tinicum, the Drives, and the treddy, I knew that some of the hills on today's route would present a challenge. My goals were to take things fairly easy and just try to enjoy the run and to make it up the hills without feeling like death. And I was rewarded for my somewhat cautious approach... the run felt good, the hills were a challenge (yet, doable), and at the end of the run, I didn't feel toasted (unlike my Ciabatta, which is nice and toasted).

So now, my blog entry is done... and so is my delicious Ciabatta... yum. Unlike the picture above, I opted for the Build-Your-Own variety, which I had made with turkey, BBQ sauce, roasted peppers, Swiss cheese, and lettuce. I dare say it was as close to Ciabatta perfection as I have come in a long time.

9.15 in 1:19:26. Cool down of a half mile from WaWa to home - Ciabatta in hand.. untimed.

Dum-Dum Est Morte

Had a rough night last night, so I knew there was little chance I'd get out the door this morning for a run. I let myself sleep in a bit and packed some running stuff.... I packed for both indoor and outdoor running, since I didn't know what the day would bring. I'm glad I did that as I was at work later than I had expected. So, here I am, writing about yet another treadmill workout. I was really hoping to go down to the drives this afternoon, but it wasn't in the cards. A treddy run is better than no run at all.

I must have climbed on the same treddy as I did a few days ago because a mile and three quarters into my run, it shut down again. I think it would have restarted, but I decided not to press my luck and hopped on the neighboring one. Unfortunately, I lost my time for that mile and three quarters.... I know my initial warm up mile was 8:53, but the 3/4 mile time is lost to me. I know it was a quicker pace, but can't really say what it was.

When I moved over to the next machine, I felt like the calibration was different. Not sure whether the other treddy was fast or this one was slow.... it just felt different and now I'm deeply skeptical of the accuracy of treddies in general. Anyway, I felt pretty good during the remainder of my run. I was right when I wrote on Wednesday that I feel like I'm on the other side of my running funk.... still not back to feeling 100%, but much better than I was. The remaining 4.25 miles of my 6 mile run came in just under 35 minutes... a good sub-tempo pace for me.

A note about the title of this blog entry.... recently, my pet beta-fish, Dum-Dum passed away. He had been with me for over a year and I was a bit surprised he made it that far. Of course I feel somewhat responsible for his passing. He was a good fish... never complained when I took my sweet time cleaning his home. He appreciated that I used bottled water for his bowl and was never rude to guests. I will miss you Dum-Dum; I hope I was good to you.

Working through

So I'm hoping today will be the last day of not feeling good on my runs. I know why I didn't feel good Sunday... and when I did a quick two miles on the treddy yesterday, my legs felt like lead. Today was marginally better as I did my five, though I find that I am still working a lot harder to keep the pace I've been trying to keep. But, I'm hopeful that I'm over the hump and on the other side of this brief running funk, so I'm looking forward to Friday... we'll see what happens.

I returned to PT today as well and confessed my sins of lassitude. I didn't get spanked too hard by Mary Ellen, but had I seen Keith, I imagine he would have given me more of an earful. Hopefully though I'm back on track with doing what I'm supposed to be doing and my hip pain will again subside.

5.07 miles in 42:53 (mile 1 8:53, the rest at tempo pace (8:22).

Off Day

A cold, rainy winter's day.... making my decision to hit the gym an easy one. My left quad and knee were aching this morning after some serious salsa exercises yesterday. I tried to stretch it out before running to help the matter. This, combined with not such great dietary choices in the last several days made for a difficult time on the treadmill. I knew I wouldn't make it as far as I would have ideally liked (something around 9), but I was hoping to at least make it to six miles. I am also noticing some resurgence in the hip pain - probably due to the fact that I blew off PT last week and have not been such a good girl about my exercises.... see what happens when I start to make progress? I think it's all okay and I start to slack. Hopefully today will serve as the wake-up call I need to stay focused and on track.

Somehow I slogged through eight miles. The iPod was not as cooperative today - playing some of my less inspiring music.... had me seriously considering creating actual playlists rather than just putting it on shuffle. I felt pretty down on myself for having such a difficult run that ultimately fell short of what I wanted to accomplish. I try to keep it in perspective and keep in mind that now is a good time to have off days since there are no races on the immediate horizon.

Now - over two hours post run, my quad is still really sore and something isn't right with my knee. Just feels like salsa soreness though - and nothing more than that.

8 miles in 68 and a half minutes.