Logging the Miles

Posted on June 21, 2014 by scoopsontherun

Sooooooo, I got up this morning at 5:00 am and ran. It felt good but I might need a nap soon.

It was great to be out there again. I got see some of my fellow running comrades out there, sort of like running into dear old friends but of course I have no idea who these people are just the fact that we run at the same time of day.

Just little three mile run this morning.

Just a little three mile run this morning.

Today’s run was nothing spectacular time-wise or distance-wise but I’m happy with it. The goal was to get out there and run at a good conversation pace.

While it felt faster, my overall pace is still hovering in an unhappy place for me. But…there may be a bright spot.

After I connected my Garmin I took a peak at what I ran on this exact date last year and I was 20 seconds slower than I am now. I then took a look at the whole week and realized that while I am well off my pace from this past fall, I am still ahead of where I was last year.

I also may have fully appreciated all of my detailed record keeping and logging all of my miles over the years. Yes, they actually do provide some insight into your progress and just don’t collect dust on a bookshelf. Or take up space on your hard drive (I like redundancies).

It really did serve as mental boost to see that I am ahead of where I was last year that I can make the improvements similar to last year as well. This of course means that I have to work at getting better. Last year just sort of happened. It wasn’t something I was consciously working towards. This year, I am working towards getting even better than last year and I am so glad that I have these log books to get an idea of how I progressed last year.

Now for that nap.

Posted in running | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Finding Consistency

Posted on June 14, 2014 by scoopsontherun

Now that I’m finally back to enjoying running again the thing I have been struggling most with has been my consistency. I’ve had many nights where I have not slept well and that has made getting up to go running before work a challenge. Then just being flat out tired after work has made things any better.

I’m beginning to feel that lack of consistency take it’s toll. I’m nowhere near any of my PR times from last year and just feel out of shape when I run. Today was a perfect example of this during the NYRR Mini 10k where I just got steadily slower and slower as the race went on. I ended up 11 minutes off my 10k PR and this disappoints me to no end. I can make up every excuse in the world that I want; I have a sinus infection, my quads and hamstrings were tight, or my headphones were bothering me. That’s what those are — excuses. What really happened is that I haven’t been running consistently.

This is almost the do or die point before my marathon training begins the first week of July. There simply isn’t any more room for excuses. I’ve run enough marathons and other races to know that you can’t fake your training. Your results will show you what exactly you have put into it.

This starts tomorrow, or maybe you can even say it started today. If I want to attain my goal for this year’s marathon I MUST put in the work. I’ll be training on a schedule similar to the days of my marathon training and yes, that includes doing some cross training. I’m putting it out there to make sure there is something somewhere to help keep me accountable.

This means that there will be running on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Monday is a cross training day, Wednesday is a deep water running day, and Friday is a rest day.

I’m still figuring out the cross training bit but I am hoping to buy a new bike within the next few weeks if not this upcoming weekend. I used to go cycling all the time but stopped about six years ago but for the past couple of years I’ve been saying that I need to get a bike again. Some of friends are rather tired of me saying that, so if only to make their lives easier in not having to hear me say this often I’m getting a bike. But seriously, I need to add the cross training and if I’ve learned anything from my previous marathons is that the chances of me doing strength training are very slim. Heading out on a bike on Monday mornings before work is very doable and I’m looking forward to it.

So there it is. That is my plan. Let’s hope that now that I written and posted this, it will help me out the door every morning, starting tomorrow.

Posted in running | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Feeling It

Posted on May 29, 2014 by scoopsontherun

After I had my decent Brooklyn Half Marathon there was hope that I was starting to feel good about running again. I ran the day after the half for an easy recovery run and it felt good to be out there. During the week I had a less than stellar run but was just happy to be outside.

I ran that, and it felt good.

I ran that, and it felt good.

The there was this past weekend and it clicked. I rented a house in Cutchogue with a couple of my buddies for Memorial Day weekend. One of my goals was to try and do a long run in order to build on my Brooklyn Half momentum. So on Sunday we headed out from Cutchogue to Greenport. Two of us by foot and one by bike. It was fantastically beautiful day in the 70s and I felt good. I logged a total of 9.25 miles and my pace was just under a minute slower than my marathon goal pace. My legs felt a little beat up at the end but overall I felt good — emotionally and physically.

Things are going well on your run when you reach this. (c) Stacey Cooper

Things are going well on your run when you reach this. (c) Stacey Cooper

Wanting to take advantage of the great weather I headed out for an easy recovery run the next day. Pace-wise it wasn’t pretty but again it felt good to be outside and to be running. I was sweating and happy about it. It has been so long since I felt that and I am so ecstatic about it.

I often wrote last year about how important it was to feel confident going into my marathon training and I still feel the same as I approach this year’s training. Being able to feel happy about running is huge right now.

What was also huge, was Fred the kidney stone. He’s finally gone! I had my second procedure yesterday and he has finally been blasted to bits. Knowing that the pain and discomfort I have been feeling will finally go away is another mental boost for me. I really did not want to go into marathon training with him still hanging around.

It’s so good to be feeling positive about many things in my life right now.

 

Posted in running | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Brooklyn Half Marathon

Posted on May 18, 2014 by scoopsontherun

I ran the Brooklyn Half and lived.

The race actually went better than that. It wasn’t great, it was 11 minutes off my half marathon PR but it was a course PR and it was the first race since my mom died where I felt like running. Even better, I was glad that I did.

Maybe it was getting out of Central Park where I’ve had such huge struggles lately or maybe it was just because it was beautiful day.

Looking at my splits from the race I can tell exactly what I was feeling on those miles and why I slowed down. There was stop I had to make in order to remove a pebble from my shoe in Prospect Park and then of course there was that hill to climb up. But then my pace improved as we got to go downhill for bit.

My first couple of miles on Ocean Parkway were pretty good but then I slowed down a bit and that was more due to the lack of consistent training. Just doing two long runs can make a half marathon harder than it should be. There was also this weird thing where the course sort of zig-zagged along the parkway. We would be running on the left side, then the course would go to the right for the water station, and then back to the left. I’m not sure why we couldn’t or wouldn’t stay on the right side. There were not any course marshals telling us to do this so my guess is that the lead group started doing that and then everyone just followed. I tried to stay in the middle of the road to prevent as much weaving as possible.

A couple of other issues that came up involved the kidney stone pain for the first seven miles, hopefully, that will be done for good the week after next. Then I had an allergy attack after running through some tree pollen between miles eight and nine.

I did not go on the beach but took the long subway ride home for a nap. (c) Stacey Cooper

I did not go on the beach but took the long subway ride home for a nap. (c) Stacey Cooper

The boardwalk brought it’s own unique challenge of large amounts of sand covering portions of the course. There times that my feet slipped as I pushed off and that made me a bit tentative in trying to push hard to the finish.

Note to self: Don’t forget the sunblock next time.

But, like I said, I am happy with this race and glad I ran it. It also left me with a good feeling that carried over to today and I wanted to go for a recovery run in my neighborhood. I haven’t been running in my hood since my mom died, I just didn’t want to. But today I did.

It was nothing spectacular, it was just a slow easy recovery run and my pace shows it. It was good to feel the normal-ness of this particular route that I normally run at 5:00 am. My quads were a bit tight from yesterday but overall everything felt pretty good. There were some tears near the end but again, I’m glad I was able to do this.

I hope this is the turning point I have been looking for.

Posted in Race Recap, Races, running | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Oh, Hi There Blog

Posted on May 16, 2014 by scoopsontherun

There hasn’t been much to write about lately as I really haven’t been running and with that goes not training for anything.

Trying to find my passion for running again after my mother’s death has been hard. Every once in a while I’ll feel a tiny bit of a spark but most of the time I feel nothing. That is what scares me right now. What if I never want to run again? My grief counselor says this is ok and not to beat myself up over it but of course I do.

I ran the Healthy Kidney 10k last week and while it wasn’t a great result I didn’t feel horribly disappointed so that is an improvement. I still haven’t been running during the week but just sticking to my Deep Water Running class that I really enjoy.

Then there is tomorrow. I am running the Brooklyn Half Marathon with very little training. I did a 10 and 12 mile long run leading up to it but they both feel so long ago. So yes, I am running a half marathon tomorrow and my only goal is to finish and not be upset with myself for not training and not having the time that I want. Considering that I’m not at all stressed about it could mean good things.

My other goal is to get more than three hours of sleep tonight. That’s ambitious right there. But who knows. maybe if I can get four hours of sleep I’ll have a better race. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

I did at least plot out my NYC Marathon training plan and do look to keep running. I just need to find that desire right now to get out there.

Hopefully, this weekend will help me get there.

Posted in Half Marathons, running | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Toughest Loss

Posted on April 28, 2014 by scoopsontherun

On April 3rd my mother passed away. I’m finding that there is no easier way to say this than to just say it. Sort of like ripping off the band-aid really fast.

There are times when I feel like I’m at the stage of having good days and bad days but more often than not it’s more like I’m having good moments and bad moments, although the good moments are lasting a little longer.

My running, as been nearly non-existent and when I have run it hasn’t been great. Right now I have absolutely no feelings about running and this scares me. The one thing that has gotten me through normal days, happy days, and sad days just feels like a chore right now. I’m forcing myself to run but I feel out of shape because I haven’t been running and I don’t like the feeling of pretending it’s making me feel better.

I’m desperately trying to salvage the Brooklyn my doing some sort of training. I bailed on a 12 mile long run this weekend just to get an extra hour of sleep because I haven’t been sleeping well at all. The weekend before I did a very slow and grueling 10 mile long run. I’m supposed to 12 miles this weekend so we’ll see how that turns out.

I am incredibly fortunate to have the people in my life that I do. They have been rocks for me but I worry about leaning too much on them.

Right now I just feel overwhelmed by so many things. I’m trying not to withdraw and isolate which is my natural tendency but I feel as though I have over done it with socializing and keeping busy. It is a very tough balance.

But for now I think I need just a bit of some down time to try and find that balance. I hope that the next time I blog I can tell you how much I love running again.

 

Posted in running | 2 Comments

Running Up That Mountain

Posted on April 3, 2014 by scoopsontherun

So I ran up a mountain and then down and then I hurt.

That is the easiest, quickest way to describe my Wurtsboro 30k adventure. There is not an easy to quick way to describe the first 3.5 to four miles of this race. You sort of have to experience it to really grasp it.

I have done plenty of trail races with steep climbs and races with long and steady ascents but I can’t recall anything like this one. This first section of the course was about a 940 to 960 steady uphill climb. This averaged out to a five percent grade. Put that in your treadmill for four miles and you might get an idea of what it is like.

I knew the numbers ahead of time but I didn’t let it psych me out. My goal was simply to make it through this part of the course and see what time I could make up when we finally got to downhill. And that is what I did. I felt really great. I survived the first 10k and enjoyed the second 10k. I was even able to enjoy some of the scenery during the second 10k.

I ran a tough 30k and all I got was this knit beanie. I am wearing every where I go!

I ran a tough 30k and all I got was this knit beanie. I am wearing it every where I go!

Then things started to hurt and it wasn’t my quads. Those started hurting on Sunday. What did start to hurt was the tendonitis on the top of my left foot and then my Popliteus tendon behind my right knee started to hurt. The tendonitis on my foot has been an ongoing thing for a while but has never hurt when I run. But right at 12 miles it said something along the lines of, “Woman, you are crazy and we need to stop this now.” It got the other tendon to agree. I honestly think that was the most difficult 10k I have ever completed. There was more walking than running and all that awesome time I made up on the downhill was slowly and painfully slipping away.

While I was disappointed and still feel that I could have done better, I am finally beginning to settle into a good sense of accomplishment with this distance. This was my first time racing this distance with only a few timed 18 mile runs under my belt. This was an extremely challenging course not for the faint of heart. Then of course, the tendonitis stuff. So yes, I was slower than my two previous timed 18 mile runs but this was a 30k (18.6). I also ran this after a very good but hilly half marathon the week before.

I’m due for a nice flat course!

Thankfully, that is what I’m getting this weekend at the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race in DC. My initial plan for this was to go for a PR. But…see everything above about a mountain.

My legs were probably more sore after this event than they ever have been after any of my marathons. I gave myself an extra rest day and am doing two days of deep water running so that I can get a good workout completed but on the low-impact side of things. I’m hoping to go for an easy run tomorrow.

I have no idea if a PR is still in the works for Sunday and I’m going to try really hard not to beat myself up if it doesn’t happen. I’m going to try and enjoy the fact that it is a flat course and that it will be warmer. I’ll be going with my best buddy and running not only with Doreen (if her foot behaves) and a bunch of my other buddies from my running club.

But yeah, I still want to PR.

Posted in Race Recap, running | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I May Have Lost My Mind

Posted on March 28, 2014 by scoopsontherun

About two months ago I registered for the Wurtsboro 30k race up in Wurtsboro, NY. Then I forgot I registered, then I stopped marathon training because I withdrew from the marathon, and then I remembered I registered for this 30k.

Who runs 18 miles and change when you are not training for a marathon? Apparently, I do.

I might die on this course but hey I do have a couple of half marathons coming up and this should make those seem like a piece of cake! Right?

Well, let me tell you why I might die. The first 3.5 miles are all uphill, just about a 940 foot steady climb. Put your treadmills on a five percent incline and do that for 3.5 miles. That will sort of kind of equal what I will do on Saturday.

This first 3.5 miles is going to kill me. (image courtesy of Sullivan Striders.)

This first 3.5 miles is going to kill me. (image courtesy of Sullivan Striders.)

I will die probably just past mile two.

But as you can see from the elevation map it is mostly downhill from there, some steep downhills at points but ok, I think I can do this.

My last 18 mile long run when I was still training for the marathon was hard. I needed a huge pep talk from my best buddy beforehand and it was cold and windy. I ended up finishing 10 minutes slower than my 18 mile PR. It was very discouraging in many ways but yes, I did finish that run.

A few weeks later, without the marathon albatross around my neck, I’m in a much better frame of mind. I had a good half marathon, on a hilly course, last week and, what I hope, a good race plan.

That plan is not to die during the first 3.5 miles. That right there is a brilliant race plan!

But seriously, that is the plan. I’m going to treat that first 3.5 miles like I would if were a trail race, meaning it’s ok to go slow. The goal is to get up that hill/mountain and I know I can make up good time for the rest of the course.

Did I mention that it’s supposed to rain? I love running in the rain — during the summer. Thankfully, it will be a little warmer tomorrow. The high is supposed to 52 in Wurtsboro and according to the hourly forecast on weather.com it will be about 40 degrees at the start and partly cloudy. That would be perfect running weather. But sometimes weather people are wrong. I know you are shocked to hear this. So I am prepared for rain. But maybe that will make me run faster.

Anyway, I am convinced that I have lost my mind because now I’m totally looking forward to this race!

Posted in Races, running | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Redemption

Posted on March 23, 2014 by scoopsontherun

Finally!

After struggling through most of 2014 I finally had a race that I felt good about so a huge thank you to the Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon.

With last week’s major decisions about running the NJ Marathon behind me I really only had one goal for the race and that was to have fun. Consider that goal accomplished plus some other things.

Approaching the highest point of the race, on a nice trail, with amazing views of the Hudson River. (c) Stacey Cooper

Approaching the highest point of the race, on a nice trail, with amazing views of the Hudson River. (c) Stacey Cooper

Way back in January my buddy Doreen called up and suggested we run the Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon. Unbeknownst to her this was a race I had been wanting to do for the past couple of years. The race is in the county where I live and is incredibly scenic. I think I did mention something about it being hilly but we were on board.

At some point last week I realized that this would be my 20th half marathon and given my crummy winter running season I knew I had to take pressure off of myself and just enjoy this for what it was — a fun race with my best buddy. And that it was.

But perhaps by taking that pressure of the marathon off myself, just letting go, and slightly warmer temps, I really had a great race.

At three miles in I immediately thought that this was one of the beautiful races I have ever run so a thank you to the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. I am insanely jealous of the people who get to run hear on a regular basis. Also, imagine how awesome I would be with all that hill work!

There were quite a few steep hills but what really was great was that almost every downhill portion was gradual and long. This allowed me to make up some a lot of time and get into a comfortable running rhythm. One great portion of this was Phelps Way/NY Route 117. I made up a huge amount of time on this section a felt amazing here.

I ended up being 5 minutes off my half marathon PR which is so better than the 12 and 13 minutes off that I had been for Miami and the NYC Half. If I ran this race last week with these conditions I would probably still be signed up for the marathon. But I’m not and I’m so relieved not to be.

Sleepy Hollow proved to be exactly what I needed not only for my running, but emotionally. I can’t wait to run this again next year!

 

Posted in Half Marathons, Race Recap, Races, running | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Going Forward

Posted on March 20, 2014 by scoopsontherun

So now that this whole spring marathon thing is over with and still satisfied with my decision, I’m ready to come up with a new plan. Nothing crazy or too ambitious just something to keep me focused and moving in a forward direction.

I have three half marathons coming up. The Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon this Saturday, I was originally going to add on seven miles for my first 20 mile long run for the marathon. You have no idea how happy I am about not having to do that. Next up is the NJ Half Marathon on April 27, happy it’s not the full! Finally, the Brooklyn Half on May 17. I’m sort of kind of maybe making that a goal race. Although I’m not really sure what kind of goal it should be. A PR? Just close to my PR? Maybe just feel really great running the race?

All great plans look better in black and white.

All great plans look better in black and white.

So I’ve got a plan provided by Coach Mike from my running club. It’s the “I want to get faster” plan. Ha, we’ll see about that! I’ll probably be the only using this plan who gets slower.

I’ve already modified it a bit but thankfully the mid-week easy runs are the days that I have my deep water running class so I think that’s a pretty good trade off. There are things in there like speed workouts, tempos runs, and something about a core workouts. I really wish I could just buy a core and call it a day.

Of course I’ve got a bunch of races thrown in there that make things interesting like those two previously mentioned half marathons before Brooklyn.

What I really like about this plan is that it doesn’t seem stressful or panic attack inducing. This as we all know is something I can really use in my life right now.

So far I don’t have any racing plans after the Brooklyn Half so I plan to ease up on things and just run for the pure joy of running. I’ll have part two of the kidney stone procedure (please lord let it work this time) and then I get to celebrate a special friend’s birthday. I’m planning to PR that birthday celebration!

After that I’m thinking about doing a running streak again, similar to the Runner’s World Streak Challenge I did last year. Hopefully Runner’s World will do it again this year. The goal of the streak was to run at least one mile a day, every day, from May 31 to July 4. That really got me settled in and ready for my NYC Marathon training. I’m hoping it will provide me with the same boost again this year.

So there you have it, simple easy plans going forward.

Posted in Half Marathons, Races, running | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment