Marathon Training Begins.

Corporate Challenge 8k

Last Thursday was the Corporate Challenge 8k race in Louisville.  The race was held at 6:00 p.m. and for those that haven't been to Colorado, the hottest part of the day is between 5:00-6:00 in the evening.  The high for the day was 92, which had me extremely worried after my disaster at Freihofer's.  In addition, the physicians at work insisted we have BBQ for lunch that day.  Overall, the race was a decent effort.  Did I absolutely kill myself?  No.  It was a loop (a square) course, 1.65 miles x 3.  A slight downhill, followed by flat, followed by a gradual uphill, followed by flat again.  I really didn't push too hard on the gradual climb and lost all my time there (I need to work on hills), but running fairly comfortable (understatement in the heat I suppose) I finished third in 30:43.  My teammate, Abby, finished first in a blazing time of 28:45, and our team won the women's division.

This week the heat hasn't let up at all and has actually gotten worse!  Saturday I ran 12 miles with Ellie and Leigh Ann (averaged 7:15's) and felt good.  This upcoming Saturday I will move up to 14 miles.  I decided to not run the Bristol Mile this Saturday evening so I could do a long run.  I had a quick speed workout Tuesday morning, then yesterday Abby, Ellie, Leigh Ann and I ran in 97 degrees, closing our last 3 miles in 6:57, 6:43, and 6:47.  Today I ran an easy, yet decent progression run in 99 degrees.  It actually does not feel that bad at all compared to 97 or 99 degrees in NY.  I will be just over 50 miles by the end of the week, which isn't too bad going into my first week of actual marathon training.  The plan for this training cycle is to boost my mileage.  My weekly high for the last marathon was 67 miles, which is a typical max for me during marathon training.  I look forward to increasing the miles for this marathon and hope it helps!  I'm feeling pretty good, my foot was a slight issue after being in NY.  The combination of racing two 5k' in a week, along with 2 workouts on the track and walking around NYC in dress shoes for several days took it's toll.  I've been in sneakers since I came back (most of the time), alternating between asphalt and dirt and icing again.  It seems to be helping, so I am sticking to it!  Next Thursday is the Firekracker 5k in Ft. Collins, we will see what a 5k at altitude is like compared to my last one almost a month ago at sea level!

Race Report... and then some

Freihofer's 

Friday, May 31st, 11:00 p.m. I finally entered my house in Scotia, NY.  I left my apartment in Colorado around 6:30 a.m. that day to go into work for an hour before driving to the airport.  Once I was settled in at DIA, I found out that the plane was delayed an hour.  Ug.  Then the 3 hour 45 minute flight turned into 4 and 1/2 hours thanks to some harsh storms in the midwest.  Finally, I arrived at LGA airport.  When my mother picked me up at the airport we started our journey to upstate NY... but not so fast.  Good old NYC traffic.  We eventually made it out of the city and just when we thought it was smooth sailing we hit another traffic jam outside of Nyack. I begged my mother to stop so we could eat, it was already past 7:00.  After we ate dinner (which wasn't so great), we got back in the car and finished our drive home.  As soon as I got home I went to bed, 6:45 was going to come quickly, especially for a girl on Mountain Time.  

Saturday, June 1st-  That morning was hot, even at 7:25 a.m. when I left my house to meet a couple friends to carpool to the race with.  When I got there, I met my running buddy, Crystal, to go for a warmup.  Eventually it was time to head to the start line.  I stood in front of the corral with Crystal, Kristina, Renee, Gretchen and Jodie.  I passed around my water bottle as it is already 85 degrees with around 80% humidity.  It was brutal.   When the gun went off I went out where I thought I should be given recent race performances this year.  The first kilometer felt easy, then something happened.  I am not sure what.  My legs didn't hurt. I wasn't breathing heavy, I was just tired, hot, and didn't have the desire to race.  I finished a very disappointing 46th place in a time of 19:28.  I couldn't really explain what happened, but I wasn't overly upset either.  I was happy that my legs didn't hurt, I didn't feel like I died or went out too fast, I just felt tired and like I didn't want to run.  

The next morning I met Kristina, Meghan and Emily for a run in Amsterdam.  We started around 7:30 a.m. to beat the heat as Sunday was predicted to be in the 90's as well.  We started off slow around an 8:30 pace.  Shortly after we were clipping miles off around 7:15-7:20 pace.  After 12 miles we averaged 7:30's and we were relieved to be done as it was already 80 degrees and ridiculously humid. 

Central Park, NYC

June 6th- my Birthday!  I had a conference in NYC on Friday so I went down on Thursday to meet some friends for dinner that evening.  I planned my trip accordingly so when I arrived in the city I would have enough time to go for a run in Central Park.  The Oakley Mini 10k was going on that Saturday, thus I knew some of the elite would be around and naturally I wanted to go look for them!  As I entered Central Park, running north, a girl passed me running south that looked like Des Daliva.  I turned around and dropped to a 6:30 pace on my "easy" run to catch the girl.  Well I finally did and when I turned to acknowledge her she kept looking straight forward, completely focused.  I debated whether or not to ask if she was Des, then it started to seem awkward as I stared at her waiting for her to turn her head, so I kept running past her.  I am pretty sure that girl decked out in Brooks apparel was her.

OK 5k- Kinderhook, NY

Saturday, June 8th- my redemption day!  I warmed up with Crystal and Kristina on the course.  My legs didn't feel particularly good and although the temperature was a vast improvement from the weekend prior, it was still humid.  The race started and I went out behind Emily and Kristina.  As we passed through the first mile I thought the man reading splits at the mile marker was yelling 5:52, 5:53, 5:54, 5:55.  I kept plugging along.  At the mile 2 mark I was convinced he yelled out 11:58, which meant I was not on pace to run a PR.  It wasn't until mile 3 when I actually looked at my watch and read 17:38.  With just 0.1 of a mile left I knew I was going to PR.  I crossed the finish line in 18:15, a 14 second PR for third place.  I was so happy!  Apparently I was hearing the mile splits incorrectly or something, my splits on my garmin read 5:45, 5:57, 5:58.

Photo Shoot!

Sunday, June 9th- I came home and helped get some shots for Injinji in Poudre Canyon and Lions Park.  It was a lot of fun and Matt took some amazing shots!

Back to The Racing Scene

This weekend will be my first race back after running the Colorado Marathon.  The first race back after a marathon is always unpredictable.  I think I took some good time off, I didn't kill myself with too many miles too soon and I got in a couple of quick, short, speed workouts last week.  Although my mileage is at half it was peaking for the marathon (last week 33), I am running a 5k, not another marathon.

I did go to the hematologist last week and need another iron infusion tomorrow.  Unfortunately, an iron infusion tomorrow isn't going to do much good for my race this Saturday.  I am feeling the symptoms of iron deficiency again, which is never a good sign.  I have been chomping on popsicles, having major shortness of breath and some minor leg cramps.  I am hoping I feel this more now since I am at altitude and when I get to NY on Friday these symptoms dissipate.  The other aspect of this is figuring out why I am iron deficient and not absorbing any oral supplements (liquid or pill form).  I will have blood work done tomorrow as well to check for the antibodies for Celiac's Disease.

So what does the race schedule look like over the next few months?!

June 1st- Freihofer's Run for Women 5k, Albany, NY
June 8th- OK 5k, Kinderhook, NY
June 20th- Corporate Challenge Colorado- Lousiville, CO
June 29th- Bristol Mile- Colorado Springs, CO
July 4th- Firecracker 5k, Fort. Collins, CO
August 10th- Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon, CO
October 13th- Mohawk Hudson Marathon, Albany, NY

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."

Colorado Marathon & RR postrace

On May 5th, 2013 I ran an 8 minute marathon PR.  Although I knew my last marathon should have been a lot faster (I got sick and had to stop for several minutes at mile 23 dropping my predicted finish from 3:01-2 to 3:07), I was still happy. The first 14 miles of the Colorado Marathon was downhill, which was a good thing given the race started at 6,200 feet elevation, however it still did damage.  My quads were destroyed and I felt it by mile 18.   Despite some GI cramps the last 2 miles of the marathon I still felt good.  I never really hit a "wall".  Every time I went to pick up the pace and run faster my quads screamed at me!  So I settled into a 7:15 minute mile pace at the end of the race, knowing it would be good enough to still break 3-hours.  If it weren't for my quads I know I could have finished a lot faster.  So we will see what a flat, non-damaging downhill marathon at sea-level, Mohawk Hudson Marathon, will allow me to crank out this fall! :)

After the marathon I finally went to get blood work done that I was putting off until after the race, I needed all my blood in my body to race at that elevation!  What did I find out?  My ferritin, stored iron, had dropped to a level the majority of runners would experience negative results in their training and performance.    Last summer when I was doing a long run with my best marathon training partner, Crystal Perno, I started to suck wind and get way behind on any incline.  I called my doctor the next day and asked to have iron studies done.  My ferritin had always been low throughout my life, and ridiculously low for a serious runner (8,9,11).  However, no doctor seemed to care and know how much I was training to race faster.  Of course I wasn't going to get that much faster no matter how much I trained with my iron so low!  Well my ferritin came back at 4.  Sedentary people can have a ferritin as low as 12 without too many symptoms.  Runners, especially those who race shouldn't be below 30 (some even argue 50), otherwise their training and performance takes a hit.  Well with a ferritin of 4 it finally all made sense.  Constant leg cramps and thrashing of my legs at night (I started taking medication for restless leg syndrome thinking that was the problem), ice crunching, constant naps despite sleeping 9 hours a night as well as dizziness and hair loss, I went to a hematologist.  They decided in give my 8 IV iron infusions immediately.  What a difference!  I felt amazing afterwards.  My ferritin went up to 210!  After moving out to Colorado I had my iron studies done again in January.  Ferritin 112.  Still felt amazing!  Then after this marathon, ferritin 24.  Damn it.  I am on the path for iron infusions again.  I see the hematologist next week, so we will see.

May 5th, 2013- Colorado Marathon- 2:59:40, 2nd overall female

April 14th, 2013- Delmar Dash 5 Miler- 30:12, 3rd overall female

March 17th, 2013- New Bedford Half Marathon- 1:23:17

New Bedford Half Marathon

I was 6 weeks back into training.  Not ideal to race a half marathon PR.  Usually 10 weeks is prime for training for a half, even if you are in shape.  I was not.  I raced Chicago Marathon in October and given my disappointing 3:07, I signed up for CIM that December, knowing I could break 3 hours.  I started to train too soon and knotted my calf up pretty bad.  The next day and for months after that last track workout that hurt my calf, the dreaded Plantar Fascitis started.  It was awful.  I never knew how bad it hurt and I could barely run.  By the end of December I felt like I could start running normal again.  I still had bad burning pain, but for the most part I was able to run through it.  My coach had me stay off the track and stay on soft dirt surfaces.  I didn't have any significant confidence boosting workouts, especially here at altitude, I was doing everything at a threshold pace, no faster, so I wasn't expecting too much from NB half marathon.  My PR was 1:27:52 and I thought I could do that, maybe I could even break 1:27, but I had no idea I was going to run 1:23:17!  In fact, I was so unfamiliar with calculating that pace in my head I didn't even know I was going to run that until the final mile.  If I had known, I am confident I could have broken 1:23.   I just realized it a little too late.