Peachtree Road Race 10K - Sub-50, baby.

I was thinking I'm definitely, no doubt in shape to run a sub-50 minute 10K... but was seriously stressing because my next 10K was the Peachtree Road Race, a 55000-runner party that is the largest 10K in the world. Peachtree is not considered a PR course.... on July 4th in Atlanta, it typically has heat/humidity, it has hills, and worst of all, it has 55000 people, many of whom run just for Peachtree.
But, I still had half a mind to try it... because
1. I ran a 30:53 four mile race in 78F, 70% humidity a few weeks ago, which equals to a sub-50.
2. I'm prepared for hills. The Peachtree, while hilly, is not as bad as it's reputation in Atlanta... part of what causes that is the sheer number of once-a-year runners who are lured out by its stature here.
3. I thought it would be cool.

Still, I stressed for those reasons... and because earlier this week I twisted my ankle! Gah! Always, right? (On a related note, my mileage will be nowhere close to last week's levels.)

Left my house at 5:15. Get to MARTA. See a guy that looked familiar (realized we talked at the beginning of the Snickers Albany marathon and had done lots of race together) and talked to him, and then another guy who hadn't run since his marathon in January and primarily lifted.
We basically hung out and talked until the start of the race. Ran into another woman in the corral who was training for Chicago. The familiar looking guy was definitely not a shy human being.
It became obvious getting to the race there would be NO warmup. I could have but then I would have sit still for a while in the corral and negated the effects.
And, admittedly, no one else seemed to be warming up in my time group and I'm not a trendsetter. Chatted instead.

On the plus side, it was a COOL morning. Only 70F and 65% humidity at the start, ~72F-73F at the finish, similar humidity. Those 8 degrees helped!!!
The race finally starts. Until this moment, I have no clue how my ankle -which still hurt on its test run Thursday - would feel. Thankfully, it felt fine.

Mile 1 - 8:46
This was sooo slow. Just the people in the time groups were bad enough, the crowds, it was made worse by cheaters (this is against the rules given to us in race packet!) from later time groups jumping in. This goes on for the first 3 miles. At mile .5, some arse from a much later time group jumped right in front of me and proceeded jogging at a slow pace - Collision. I wasn't injured but pretty pissed. Just don't do that, running at a later time group isn't that bad, I've done it, and if you want time group 1, just run a qualifying time, and cutting ANY distance off a race course is just lame as hell.
They put time chips on all the runners this year. They should have made it so if you didn't cross both the start and the finish, no t-shirt. That would stop this crap.
Anyways... Have lots of time to make up. It's bad to have a slow first 3 miles at the Peachtree because it's relatively dowhill first 3 miles, relatively uphill last 3.
Mile 2 - 7:32
Feels like a good pace. I know the pace I need for my goal is around 7:55/mile. (Taking into account that at a race this crowded with all the people dodging, my Garmin would probably read just a little long) Just a little too fast, still, and should probably slow down.
Mile 3 - 7:41
Wonder if I'm going to pay for this time compensation later, but hell, what's the worst that could happen? No one would blame me for not meeting my PR goal at Peachtree.
Mile 4 - 8:14
Cardiac hill, of course, and more importantly landed weird going around someone and my ankle that I had twisted earlier this week started hurting. I stopped and walked just for a bit, grabbed some water while I was at it... the pain faded. When I started running again, it was there but barely... and at that point, could have been mental, not physical.
Mile 5 - 7:55
I really think I could have gone faster this mile. I was feeling mentally bad about the 8:14 last mile and that always slows me down. I need to get over that. (Amazing how many mental things I'm realizing can affect my performance.) Anyways, I continued the early part of it at over 8 minute pace feeling like I lost my PR when a smarter, better part of me piped in with, What the hell are you thinking? Your legs aren't even that tired. You have this; don't be a wimp. I was, if you remember, a wimp once I thought I lost my sub-2 at Run The Reagan, and it later turned out that I hadn't at that point, and only lost it by 32 seconds. I wasn't about to let that happen again.
Mile 6 - 7:31
Because that's what you do at the end of a race - you RALLY and you speed up! That's what I do, anyhow.
Mile 6.3 - 1:56 (6:27/mi pace)
I speed up just a bit more after my watch beeps mile 6 finished. Feel a little nauseated in my sprint to the finish - but I know from the treadmill and my random end of run urges (I finish all my runs fast, not just races) that happens to me as I drop below 6:30 and that I can get as low as 6 for a couple minutes and not actually throw up, so I don't let up. Finish strong, Heather.

10K - 49:37 , 7:52 pace according to my Garmin (which read as 6.3 miles, I'm sure the people dodging... I guess at 10K that would be what, 7:58?) A little slower (20 seconds) than the race prediction calculators from my 4 miler despite the 6-8F cooler temps and equal humidity... but on what is considered to definitely not be a PR course with crowds seriously cramping my style the first mile.

Did a mile and a half cool down. Didn't feel that bad... actually kept accidentally returning to near race pace and having to slow down to my much slower recovery pace... I think I could have done better... and now I'm thinking I need to find a 10K and see what I'm actually capable of... I can't prove it yet, but I suspect it's even better.

Still, possible to do better or not, I'm pleased as can friggin be with my SUB - 50 minute 10K.... I'm getting faster than I ever dreamed! I remember breaking 60 in the 10K the first time after like 7 years of running and thinking, this is as good as it gets for me, but hell, just by not assuming what I am or am not capable of this year I've proven myself wrong. Good reason for no one out there to think that they're slow or just have bad running genetics and to let that limit themselves. That's what I thought, and I just ran a sub-50 minute 10K! Woot!
I know that's not much to many... but it's really, really a milestone for me and I'm so happy and so proud.

And what's more, on the MARTA bus home (that was NOT full of sweaty runners, maybe time group 1 has more advantages than I realized - though I still maintain, it is a different experience then later on) I looked in the window and saw my reflection and thought I looked normal, not fat. Despite the weight loss, that's a milestone for me as well. In theory I know I'm a good size for me and my goals now - not fat and not thin either... Just a healthy size. I won't be entering any figure competitions any time soon ;) but my weight is not negatively impacting my sports goals or my health. In theory, I know that I definitely wouldn't call anyone else my size fat and would be livid if I heard it happening... But "seeing" that is a different story and was cool.

Peachtree has already posted results.
3368 Overall (out of 50,009 finishers) . 6.73%
660 Gender (out of 23,842) . 2.77%
470 Women Under 40 Division (out of 12,982) . 3.62%


ONE concern.... if anyone has input.

Rest of the day after the race, my leg hurt where the hamstring inserts into the knee. Not sure if this is from running fast without warming up/stretching or an overuse injury I was on the verge of and I just got pushed over the edge by the race... Any thoughts/similar experiences? I'm a few weeks out from marathon training officially starting and I can either use next week and just bicycle to nurse an injury or do no quality and just base mileage... if that's needed.

Solid week put in!

55 miles for the week! Quality workouts = a tempo, a 10.5 mi marathon pace run, and a 15 mile long run.

Not sure what to expect next week. Thinking about attempting to race the Peachtree and try to get under 50 minutes... not the easiest race to do it, but trying won't hurt right? Just try to figure out the logistics of that.

At my goal weight!

Magnolia Run 4mile

Still dealing with sickness this week, though not near as bad as last week. Was actually able to run though it was all easy, and less miles than I wanted.

But apparently the two weeks "off" didn't hurt my running because my 4mile this morning was faster pace than my 5K a few weeks ago.

30:53 (7:43/mi)

Lost focus during the second mile and lost some time. I think I could have had another 25 seconds cut off if I hadn't lost focus (the amount slower my 2nd mile was) Anyone know good workouts to help the maintaining focus at racing speeds? I'm lame about that.

78F, 70% humidity, so a bit warmer than ideal, though I am acclimated. gently rolling hills, nothing bad.

Got 2nd in 20-24 F. Awards were a little lame. Award ceremony, started waaaaaaay too late. I wanted to get home to Angeline! It didn't start for like an hour and a half. For a 7:30 short race I ended up not getting home until 9:30, despite living 15 minutes from the race.

Angeline was not pleased with the awards (which, she tells me, are hers rightly. And I can't much argue because she's friggin running and she's not even 11 months old.)

Looking forward to good training coming up. This race puts my Daniel's Formula VO2 training paces up a little bit. Yay, speed up!

Two viruses and an injury - really??

I have done about no training this week. It's been awful. Monday, Angeline started throwing up everything. Tuesday, I started, too. During this time, my husband was sick with the flu. I caught that as well, so I had a stomach bug and a flu that involved horrible body aches, high fever, bad congestion and coughing that quickly led to a sore throat. I threw up for two days. The flu remained around. I still can't breathe well, though I tried running Friday for 5K and Saturday for 10K--- both awful runs that resulted in coughing up a lot of phlegm and a heart rate much higher than it should be. Still, I thought we were maybe almost out of the woods... when yesterday Angeline caught the flu DH had and DH caught the stomach bug Angeline had. Angeline is congested and coughing and it is so sad. She's a trooper though and doesn't complain much when she's sick, just gets very clingy. No playing by herself, no sleeping on her own (only on me), etc.

And not being able to run to get the stress out a little-- it's rough on me. I wish I had just a little time on my own. But it won't be happening for a while.

Then, to make matters worse, I woke up in the middle of the night Friday night with my knee hurting so bad. Then Saturday, it was super tight during my run, then hurt really bad that night and this morning. Feels like runners knee, but why would it be worse after a week off than it was running every day? Any ideas? What should I do? I don't really want to lose another week of training, but I don't want to cause more damage.
Still, when it rains it pours I guess. Getting two separate viruses myself, having my whole family sick, and having my knee hurt, all at once, is a bit much to be fair, I think!

Still coughing up phlegm though at this point I'm more concerned about Angeline... I hope she doesn't get this as bad as my husband and I did. Both of us, it was more sick than we've been in years. It's one of those stubborn viruses that you start feeling better, and then it hits you like bricks, your fever shoots up, and you're caught again. Can't imagine a baby having to deal with that. But, she is still primarily breastfed, so I'm hoping my body is giving her some antibodies since I was sick first with this.

Angeline's personality is amazing. Even sick, she's so playful and cracks me up. Oh, and interesting reaction to me being sick... if I cough or when I threw up, she starts crying until I grab her and say, I'm okay sweetie. She doesn't react like that to my husband's or anyone else's coughs, even sudden and loud ones, just mine.

Splish splash

Angeline LOVES loves loves the pool. She loves being outside, period, but there is something special more for the pool. I think I know where we'll be this summer. If we spend all our time outdoors, we don't need to spend a bunch of time indoors cleaning, right? RIGHT?


I did an interval workout. Yes, me. Speedwork. It was tough! The 80F might have something to do with that, but it's GA summer and I better get used to it. I hope this all pays off into a faster Heather!

It's weird how my thought used to be all into going longer, into the new multisport, but my singular concern now is running, and getting faster (though I still enjoy a bike ride here and there!) Partially, having a kid is to blame. More limited time means I want to get all the training in I can in the time I have-- getting faster means my easy runs are faster, too. And running is the easiest thing to do with an infant, not bicycling. Partially, it's some friends I've made who've inspired me to NOT settle. For so long, I believed that I just wasn't fast and settled. I'd been running a decade; I'd ran a lot. That's just who I was. It was a self fulfilling prophecy. Now, I'm throwing myself at it and not believing there's any limits. And I'll keep doing so until my wings melt in the sunlight, I think. Because it's working. I'm capable of more than I ever thought, and am excited to see where that takes me.

Celebrate America 5K - HW & PR

AKA : Salvaging the last vestige of marathon fitness

Goal: I was torn on what my goal should be for the race. As I've posted before, my overall goal for 2009 is to push myself harder. But coming into this race, I was not trained for a 5K. I just had left over fitness from a few marathons. (Including my awesome PR to start out April) I have not done speed work, really. I spend the last few weeks resting, less miles, less speed-- except for one tempo run last Monday that suggested that my sub-25 goal might be conservative. My postpartum PR was 25:26 which I knew would be no problem. After the tempo, I decided on 24:30 as a goal.

Race morning : weather was very good if just a little warmer/more humid than I would have designed if God had asked me for my input, 67F and 93% humidity according to TWC. The rain that was threatening held out. I got pretty much no sleep. Angeline can tell when I really want sleep and hold out like a champ. But, a few hours. Just would have liked more after several days with next to no sleep. Got to the race site a little later than I intended, got my number, and went straight into warmup - 2.5 miles at 10:30 pace, then 6 strides at 7:53 pace. I was just a little sweaty at the start which made me feel a little intimidated but it paid off. I was thirsty starting the race. Why do they never have water out before the race starts?

The Race:

Mile 1 - 7:53

Right on pace. Feeling a bit easy. Would be happier if the woman with the stroller with the 3 year old in it weren't running right next to me. Dayum.

Mile 2 - 7:49

Pass the water stop. Still thirsty. Don't stop. Race will be over soon enough. Just do what the Garmin tells me to do.

Mile 3- 7:46

Mile 3 starts on a long hill. Stupid hill. Stupid hill. Don't look at my Garmin until I get to 3.25 miles, just keep in pace with those around me, which ended up being stupid because at 3.25 my average pace was showing 8:45. Apparently the people around me slowed down. I speed up and recapture what I lost, plus some.

Mile 3.11 - 42 seconds (6:21/mi)

Sprint in to the finish once I see it. Pass two more people in this last straightaway, which I don't like doing, but they could have sped their asses up if they didn't want passed.

24:11 (7:47/mi)

Wait around for a while afterwards because they tell me I won 3rd in the 20-24 female division.

"Cooldown" To pick up Angeline from where she was being babysat, I had to run what I thought was 3 miles. It ended up being 5 10:30 pace for this as well. Holding my trophy as I ran. I dropped it and chipped it.ReflectionI'm very happy with the results. I ran 7x as a pace in a race, woohoo! Yeah, barely, and yeah a 5K, but hey, it's a start! I think I could have ran slightly faster, not much, maybe sub-24... but that would not have been much more to add -- a PR by a minute, 7 something pace.... I think maybe I held some back knowing I wasn't done running for the day... and because I still am not to the place I can trust my body over such a short distance. This summer's focus is speedwork, and after some specific training towards discomfort, teaching my body who's boss, then I can run sans Garmin and trust my body a bit more. For now, Garmin helps me go faster than I would without. My heart rate says I did a damn good job though, averaging 86% of my observed MHR. The average bpm was a couple beats per minute slower than for the 10K in January that started these last several months of PR mania, so that maybe supports I could have gone slightly faster (or maybe supports it's harder to get it up higher as you get fitter)

Don't stop me now

Last bit has not been great. Weight is up (and I've deserved it; not been eating clean.) - though I'm trying to remember I'm still 20 lb lighter than I started 2009. Running - I gave up the long runs for the summer in hopes of getting faster, and have been letting myself "rest". Well, rest is bad for my body. I don't get injured often, and now I'm having knee pain I've never had before! Whenever I run, the back and side of my right knee hurts. Been this way this last week. I've been taking it so easy... apparently my body likes being pushed. Anyhow, I have a 5K tomorrow-- I'm hoping I can ignore the knee for it, score a PR, and then maybe switch to the bike for a bit until I figure out what's going on with it.

Angeline and myself have also been sick this last half week. We're both on the mend, though. Her "sick eyes" finally went away today. Those red, pitiful eyes will break your heart! Still a runny nose, but she's sleeping and eating normally again so it's no big deal. Of course, Angeline is a trooper and tries to be such a good baby even when sick. The worst of it was Friday night/Saturday morning, when she couldn't breathe when she tried to lay down and was so tired and aching that she needed me to be holding her-- I was up all night. But it made me feel so good to know that I was helping her (behind those pitiful eyes) feel comforted, because I couldn't do what I wanted to (just make it all better for her.)

Angeline is cracking me up as much as always these days. She does things like reach up and pop my lip with her finger. She also cannot resist a button these days. She'll go after it doggedly, pointer finger outstretched. She has continued climbing on everything. I'm telling you, nothing gets in the way of this girl. She just keeps on going until she figures out how to overcome the obstacle. It's the same reason I think she never got stuck standing up, and why she started crawling and walking so early. She refuses to be stifled! What an angel. She is full of personality and usually up to something. You wouldn't think a baby could be devious, but then if you think that you haven't met Angeline. She may or may not be a little spoiled. Can a 9 month old be spoiled? But she is very vocal when something is not going her way. Very.

9 Month Checkup

22 lb

30" tall

Over 90th percentile in both... Someone takes after their 6'4 daddy. (Aside from already looking just like him!) I think higher percentile in height then weight... she's leaned out these past few months since she's just so active! Always on the go, crawling, walking, climbing, gogogo!

No shots today!! Yay, I thought there were and I HATE shot day. The look of betrayal! They did take blood, but she didn't mind that.

Her walking has already got much better. She'll walk, stand there, scoop down pick something up, stand back up, and continue walking. Still a wobbly walk. And if she trips on something,, she won't stand back up, she'll switch to crawling... and if she is tired she will usually crawl or try to hold on to something.



In my news, not so good. Legs have just wanted to chill. I really need to plan races and start speed training, but for now I'm letting them rest. Weight is doing well, though. I'm sure I'll be at goal by the end of summer, no problem..

Angeline WALKED!

Now, she's been taking steps unaided for about a month... but no more than 2-3 at a time... then she'd grab something or wobble.

Tonight she very definitely WALKED. About 4 feet. I'm so so so excited! She seemed to know she did something awesome, because she was acting proud and tickled pink afterwards. And she did it again!

She just turned 9 months old this last week.

Go Angeline! You rock!

Flying Pig RR - 3rd Marathon in 3 Months

Third marathon in three months

Decided to come up to do the Flying Pig to run a marathon I've always wanted to run. (I used to collect pigs, back when the Pig started) and to meet up with some people. My friend Leala agreed to come babysit, DH agreed to pay for the whole shebang as an anniversary present, so it was all good to go. Angeline was such a good baby for the trip up!

Race morning, got there just in time and saw some of the people I came up to meet, including my friend Matt. He was just doing a 20 mile long run, during which he was going to get progressively faster up to his goal marathon pace. His goal marathon pace = me sucking wind. Still he was great company and I ran with him for a while. Figured, hey, I haven't done anything ill advised lately, what fun is that? Why not run faster than I have business running in the middle of a marathon? Also completely abandoned how I normally fueled and instead ate pop tarts and juice for breakfast, and only gatorade on the course at almost every station. My stomach was not amused.

Matt dropped me around mile 17 - I needed to stop at the portojohn and was having trouble keeping up by this point. I slowed down after this point to just run it in. After mile 20, I was feeling rough. I have never felt that bad ending a marathon before. I thought I was out of energy. Passing the marker mile 25 made me realize I had a little more energy and I sped up a little.

Weather, perfect.. cool (50's I guess?). Course had hills but wasn't as bad as people were making it out to be. Just like Atlanta terrain - felt like home, not like a hilly course. I mean, not mostly flat like every other marathon I've run, but not bad in terms of courses to run on.Official time was 4:19:19. That was chip time. I did have 4 portojohn breaks on the course as a result of my unhappy stomach. Garmin time was 4:13:27 (It autopauses when I stop) - Yeah, it was that bad... and there were lines at the portojohns. Despite being much bigger, the Pig seemed to have fewer portojohns on the course. But more than the 2 spots at Chickamauga, so...

If the marathon was not enough, walked to the meetup (not bad) then realized Leala parked 5 miles from where we were at. Angeline didn't want in her stroller, so I put her in the Baby Bjorn and walked the 5 miles back to the car carrying her. So my friend who doesn't exercise ever got a 10 mile walk for the day, and I got a 26 mile run and 7 miles of walking for the day.

Mile splits - These are, of course, my Garmin splits so they'll add up to my Garmin time not my actual time... restroom breaks not included!

1- 9:58

2- 9:51

3- 9:42

4- 9:33

5- 9:35

6- 9:20

7- 9:34

8- 9:25

9- 8:49

10- 8:57

11- 8:46

12- 8:46

13- 8:33

14- 8:31

15- 8:36

16- 8:31

17- 8:25

Dropped

18- 8:51

19- 9:57

20- 10:45

Time for the pain...

21- 11:04

22- 10:27

23- 11:06

24- 11:12

25- 10:56

26- 9:43

Realized I did still have a little left when I realized it was so soon to the finish.

26.5- 8:41/mi pace

So, this morning, after I finished driving back from Atlanta, realized I was actually sore. Son't feel it sitting, but Feel it walking around, and for sure walking up/down stairs! Definite soreness!!! Feels good, like I accomplished something.But, uhh, if this is how you're supposed to feel the day after a marathon I haven't been doing them right. :)

This is my last marathon for the season... gonna focus on shorter distances and see if I can't get my speed up a little bit so I can work on more PR's..