Duvall Double
I didn’t set expectations for the Duvall Double, but I set a couple goals. I wanted to be around 12ish minute pace for the half on Saturday and around a 13 minute pace on the insanely hilly 10k.
I didn’t set expectations for the Duvall Double, but I set a couple goals. I wanted to be around 12ish minute pace for the half on Saturday and around a 13 minute pace on the insanely hilly 10k.
I have no doubt I was the best dressed with my pink Sparkle Skirt that matched my pink hair perfectly….I was by far not the best runner. Woke up early after a late night (Race Walking workshop the prior evening) and headed out to Gas Works park praying it didn’t rain. It didn’t. We ran into a few friends who were all running the 15k. Not there was much of a difference, we were all just standing around. At some point, a horn sounded and we figured that was the start. Off we headed, sticking together until my shoe came untied. As I moved off the course, my shoelace got stuck in a grate and I had to yank it lose before tying it and getting back into it. Off we went. We were in the back of the pack thanks to my shoelace, but that’s fine. At the 15k split point, everyone turned left. We went right. We were basically last. Seems everyone was running the 15k. We made it a point to pass as many people as possible so we wouldn’t be dead last. I stopped to pee at about the halfway point and walked in on a clown. Yes a clown. There was a tall clown in a portajohn, adjusting her clown shorts. After waiting, peeing, and getting back on the course, we weren’t last, but we had some catching up to do. We ran, we walked, I did my imitation of race walking, we basically crawled up hills, and we went and went and went. We worked a 3/1 fast/slow interval all the way to the end. We weren’t fast. We weren’t last. Only one of our friends running the 15k passed us. So not too bad. In the end there were 21 people behind us and 80 ahead of us. Not bad for the first race of the season. Hopefully next time we can get closer to that 10 minute mile mark!
I don’t write here as much as I should. It’s almost oppressive to put down on this little blog that my training is not going as planned. I have been sidelined by medical issues. Unexplainable medical issues or just an extension of the good ol’ endometriosis crawling into other parts of my body and life.
I’ve spent the last few weeks being poked and prodded and generally treated like an alien abductee. Everything came back normal. My GI doctor suggested that I take probiotics as if I haven’t been taking them for months, if not a year. As if that is going to stop this crazy intense pain that leaves me sitting in a chair dazed and confused. This pain is different from the pain I’ve lived with basically my whole life. I’m back to yet another doctor today.
Meanwhile, I’ve been running as much as I can. Trying to run at least a mile every day. Some days are fine. Some days suck. My long runs aren’t going so well. So instead of suffering through another long run, I run hills and try to run one really, really fast mile. Then I can just walk home. Not that I’m not doing my long runs, I’m just not adding extra mileage each week as I should be. I spend a good portion of the run in pain. Or I walk half of it. But I’m out there….
I’ll be out there today……after that doctor’s appointment.
I declared May 1 the official start of my training season, but I’m going to do a core workout and a couple mile run today to get ready for tomorrow. I would have started early but I caught a pesty cold in Coachella. Let me tell you that it sucks to be sick in 100 degree heat while sleeping in a tent. Even a fancy tent like ours.
My first run is a 10k on May 18 and then a 1/2 on June 1. What?!? Train for a 1/2 in 4 weeks? Yup, I’m just that crazy. I’m treating the 1/2 as just another long run and not pushing myself. The race is flat and has a 3 hour time limit and I plan to take it easy. The following day is a 10k that basically goes straight up hill! That will be a nightmare of an amazingly fun proportion.
What’s the plan? I’m doing a low mileage runyourBQ plan mixed with a little Dumbo training. Really what matters is kicking up those long runs again. I have 6-7 miles this week, then 8, then 9, then 11-12, and then the 1/2. I haven’t been running much but I’ve been keeping at a 3-6 mile outseason runs with some Insanity workouts thrown in, and lots of intervals. I really like intervals on the treadmill, although just running on the treadmill is dreadful!
So I’m off. Wish me luck!
I’m a runner, although I am not a RUNNER. You’ve read a million times about how I don’t even like running.
Late last year, I read a guide for training for a marathon with a meat-free diet. At that moment, I was more obsessed with losing this damn 30 pounds of surgery fat that seems to be stubbornly clinging to my thighs and my neck. After re-reading those three intro e-books a million times, I slowly got obsessed with running a BQ. Not necessarily with running Boston itself, just qualifying. If I wanted to run Boston, I’d just do a charity run; it’s easier. (Of course, if I qualify and get in, I’d run the damn race).
Today’s Weight: 148.4 pounds
Optimal Race Weight: 120 pounds (or less)
Happy Weight: 130 pounds
Six pounds in two months isn’t much of a weight loss, is it? Well, to be fair, I gained another 10 pounds somehow before I started my offseason dieting! How did that happen? I blame Carthay Circle at Disneyland, or the Blue Bayou, or Uva Bar (five times), or ummm yeah I ate a few boxes of thin mints. This was during my training. My offseason pales in comparison! So it’s Actually a 14 pound weight loss since January 22. That’s not so bad.
I’m running here and there. I’m working on Insanity. I’m enjoying myself. Next week I go to Maui and then to Coachella the following week. When I return, I begin the next phase of my training: Run Your BQ!
Yikes.
BQ.
Yikes.
YIKES!