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Fingers Crossed

Posted in Marathon, Running, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 15, 2014| 11 Comments »

This morning I submitted my application for acceptance into the 2015 Boston Marathon.

Boston Marathon application

As you might know, priority is given to the runners who qualified with the most time to spare: those who met the qualifying standard by age and gender by 20 minutes or more, then 10 minutes or more, then 5 minutes or more. The Boston Athletic Association posted an update this morning after registration closed for those fastest qualifiers last week:

Approximately 16,000 application submissions from the fastest among all qualifiers were submitted during the first week of registration (September 8-13). At the conclusion of the next phase of registration, the B.A.A. will accept up to 8,000 additional qualifiers.

So today the field opened up for 8,000 additional qualifiers from the group of runners like me who met the qualifying standard by age and gender by less than five minutes. However, these entries are not accepted on a first-come, first-served basis; priority is given among these entries for those who qualified by the largest margin (meaning that someone who qualified with 35 seconds to spare gets priority over me and my 34 precious seconds). Registration remains open for this group through Wednesday September 17 at 5 p.m. ET. (and then re-opens later to all qualifiers if spots still remain.)

Now the waiting begins. The email confirmation of my application stated that acceptances for this latest group of entries will be sent out in October, although I suspect we might hear sooner than that. I think chances are good that all of us “squeakers” will get accepted, but I’m not considering it a done deal by any means.

In the meantime I am taking time to celebrate my marathon finish time, 3:44:26, whether or not it is fast enough to get me accepted into the 2015 Boston Marathon. I realized that in my stupor in the days after the race I didn’t even acknowledge the fact that 3:44:26 is a personal record for me by 8 minutes and 16 seconds! That is pretty significant, even if it only boils down to 18-19 seconds faster per mile over the 26.2 miles. For someone like me who did not start running until she was staring down 40 years of age, and was 4 days shy of 43 years of age on race day, it’s a big deal to run 26.2 miles at 7 miles per hour. Even now, after having gone the distance at that pace, I can hardly even imagine setting the treadmill for 7.0 and running for 3 hours and 44 minutes and change. You know, the other day I was talking to a friend who is training for his first full marathon coming up this October in Long Beach. He said he finally understood the appeal of marathon running: the amazing sense of satisfaction you can achieve by challenging yourself to do something you couldn’t have done a year ago or even a month ago. It’s definitely worth celebrating.

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Now I’m Tapering, Really, I Mean It

Posted in Books, Marathon, Running, Speedwork, tagged , , , , , , , on August 14, 2014| 9 Comments »

I admit it, I’m a little bit of a slave to the training plan. I pretty much commit to and follow the training plan as written. I might juggle a workout here or there, occasionally switching up the days as needed, but they all get done eventually. There’s not much more satisfying than crossing off a workout.

I also don’t look much past the current and next day on the plan. I map out the workouts for the 16 or so weeks of the plan, but then I take them one day at a time, as one must. So I was in for a bit of a surprise.

As you might know, I was happy to embrace the 3-week taper period leading up to my next full marathon, The Santa Rosa Marathon. But then the workouts continued at pretty much the same pace for countdown week 3. Week 3 ended and week 2 began with a “long” run on Sunday of 10 miles, which indeed is long but seemed like a short run by comparison. I thought for sure taper had begun in earnest. But then the plan proceeded as usual with strength training on Monday and a 20-mile bike ride on Tuesday. Fine, I can handle those. I eat 20 mile bike rides for breakfast. <—- Me, poking fun at myself.

Then came Wednesday's workout. Wednesday is the speed workout on the plan. You might recall that sometimes the speed workout from Smart Marathon Training is a long run in disguise.

And this speed workout, scheduled for just 10 days before race day, was the whopper of all speed workouts:

1 mile warmup
400 m, 800 m,
400 m, 800 m,
400 m, 800 m,
400 m, 800 m,
400 m
with 400 m recoveries
(10K race pace) [for me and my I wanna-qualify-for-Boston-ambitions: 7:41, which is 7.8 mph]
Repeat 3 times [<—– Red flag]
1 mile cool down

Okay, do the math people. That adds up to 18.25 miles. I literally thought it was a typo. I could see doing the set of intervals one time, but "Repeat 3 times"? Are you kidding me?

I checked the Intermediate Marathon training plan, and checked again. I checked the Advanced and Competitive Marathon training plans. They all said the same thing for Speed Workout #14. [Edited to add: I later found out from the author, Coach Jeff Horowitz, that the plan contained a typo and the speed workout was only supposed to be 10 miles, not 18.25. See the correct workout here.]

So that's how I celebrated the first day that all three of my kids were in school full time. I dropped them off at school, hit up Vons for some more Gatorade, and set out to run/walk intervals for the next 3.5 hours. In the end it was a huge confidence booster, and I believe it was excellent practice for relying on the course aid stations for my all fuel. Normally I like to carry my sports drink with me so I don't have to stop running at each aid station. This time I won't have on-course support from my husband, so I've got to rely on the aid stations, which means slowing to a walk every two miles or so, taking in 6-8 ounces of sports drink as I walk, then picking the pace back up to average 8:25 or so. This interval workout made excellent practice for that. I'd run a quarter mile, then walk a quarter mile, run a half mile, then walk a quarter mile. I nailed the 7:41 pace each time, my confidence blossoming with each success.

When I finished, I hit the Vons again for some chocolate milk to refuel. A full quart of chocolate milk. And I took an ice bath when I got home. And I wore my PRO Compression socks for the rest of the day.

I feel pretty good today, but I am glad that the plan truly starts to taper now. Normally I’d be biking 20 miles today, but the plan only calls for strength training. Normally I’d be running eight miles tomorrow, but the plan “only” calls for 15 miles on the bike. I can only hope that my dedication to the plan pays off, and this final push before a severe cutback in taper leaves me with legs primed to kick butt on August 24th: 9 days, 9 hours and 25 minutes away.

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My Workouts on the Run Less, Run Faster Marathon Training Plan

Posted in Biking, Marathon, Running, Strength training, Swimming, Triathlon, Weight training, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 31, 2012| 6 Comments »

I confess I have the dread disease that requires me to log every mile of every swim, bike and run, and every minute of exercise. If I don’t document it in at least three places, it didn’t happen, much like if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it. I track my runs and bike rides with a Garmin and/or with MapMyRUN, then record them on MapMyRUN, on my computer spreadsheet, and on my paper marathon training schedule. That’s normal, right? 😉 Just nod and back away slowly, and maybe you won’t catch this dread disease.

The fact is I find the data fascinating and it all helps me keep on track for my triathlon and marathon training. I’ve got an Olympic distance triathlon coming up in two weeks (!!) and the marathon in 10 weeks (!!!) I’ve been following the Run Less, Run Faster beginner’s marathon training plan. It calls for three runs per week (speed work, tempo, and long run) plus at least two cross-training workouts. For cross-training of course I do swimming and biking, a natural fit for the triathlon training. I also throw in some strength training. All that means that I exercise an average of six days per week for an average of six to six-and-a-half hours total. (Now I know that sounds like a lot to someone training for her first 5K, and like nothing to someone training for an Ironman. I don’t compare myself to anyone else (although if you want to leave a comment to tell me how much you’re training for your 70.3 or 140.6, I’d be curious to know the answer!))

For me the week generally looks like this:

Sunday: 60-minute bike ride or 30-minute ocean swim
Monday: rest day, possible 30-minute strength training
Tuesday: 60-minute speed workout, generally 6 miles including warm-up and cool-down
Wednesday: 30-minute swim or 40-minute bike ride, plus 20-30 minutes strength training
Thursday: 60-minute tempo run, generally 6-7 miles (this will be going up as the plan proceeds)
Friday: 30-minute bike ride plus 30 minutes of strength training; optional rest day or only strength training
Saturday: 120-minute long run (soon to be more as I head into new territory with 14+ mile runs!)

It ends up being three runs, two bike rides, one or two swims, and an average of two strength training sessions. By the numbers for August:

Swim miles (a swim mile being 1500 km): 5.25
Bike miles: 101.3 (full disclosure: I count 30 minutes on the spin bike as 10 miles)
Run miles: 100.59 (woo hoo, broke my first 100!)
Number of strength training workouts: 8, for a total of 3 hours 25 minutes

My handy computer spreadsheet shows me a pie chart that compares the ratio of swim to bike to run to weights, all based on minutes. It consistently stays at about 58 percent running, 18 percent biking, 14 percent swimming and 10 percent strength training.

Do you log all of your workouts? In more than one place?! Please confess that I’m not the only one.

What are you training for if anything and what does your mileage and workout time look like recently?

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Why I Tri

Posted in Kids, Triathlon, tagged , , on August 28, 2012| 3 Comments »

Most of the reasons I run and participate in triathlons are selfish reasons: fitness, good physical and mental health, weight maintenance. I wanted to be “fit at forty” and I celebrated with my first sprint triathlon less than a month after turning 40 last year. Today I turn 41 — happy birthday to me!! — and I am more excited about fitness than ever.

The other day I got reminded of the main reason I keep up all this exercise. My four-year-old saw me getting dressed in my tri kit and she said

I want to do triaflon with you when I’m your size.

Yes! How cool is it to set a good example for your child and inspire her to want to become an athlete too? And how cute is she with her “triaflon”? (When she was three, she called it “falafelon.” That sounds like fun too but I think that involves consuming calories rather than burning them!)

Here’s me in the outfit that inspired my daughter to want to be like me:

Trying out my new tri kit at Zuma Beach in Malibu

The tri kit came as an early birthday present from my parents. Thanks Mom and Dad for the support and the awesome new gear!

Why do you tri or run or swim or bike or do what you do?

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10 Tips for Eliminating Excuses Not to Exercise

Posted in Biking, No Excuses, Running, Triathlon, tagged , , , , , , , on August 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

These 10 tips for eliminating excuses not to exercise go beyond the traditional advice to lay your workout clothes out the night before, set your alarm across the room, exercise first thing in the morning, or carry your bike pump on the bike. These tricks have saved me more than once and kept me on track (so to speak) with my marathon and triathlon training.

1. Memorize a basic strength training routine that does not require any equipment. I cannot count the number of times my workout plan has been derailed by the weather, lack of transportation, or a sick child who needs to stay home in bed. After doing the series of strength training exercises laid out in Train Like a Mother just a couple of times, I found that I could do the exercises on my own, anywhere, anytime. You can watch a video demonstration online of How to Get Ripped Like a Mother. Sometimes when I am supervising my children on the playground at a park, I will do triceps dips on the park bench, pushups on the grass, and crunches on the rubber safety turf on the playground! Before I know it I’ve gotten in a 20-30 minute comprehensive strength training workout with no equipment required.

2. Keep headphones in your pocket or purse. If you can’t bear to run without your tunes but suddenly your iPod is dead, what can you do? Use those headphones to plug in at the gym, or download a free library book on tape to a media card in your smartphone. If those aren’t options, swim in the pool (I have found an outdoor pool that plays music!) or choose a local trail and enjoy some people-watching while you log some “unplugged” miles!

3. Pack your workout bag with alternatives. The other day I drove 20 minutes to the bike trail only to find that I couldn’t inflate my front bike tire with my bike pump (note to self: repair tire valve stem; check tire inflation at home). Because I’d worn my running shoes and not my slip-on shoes that I normally wear before changing into my cycling shoes, I was able to salvage the workout with a 4-mile run on the trail. Stay flexible with your plan by packing your swimsuit in your running bag, and bringing your running shoes when you plan to bike.

4. Keep extra sunscreen and toiletries in your gear bag. Perhaps you’ve driven to the gym on your day off only to find it unexpectedly closed for the holiday. If you’ve packed sunscreen with you, you can take your workout outside instead. Just don’t store that sunscreen in your car — the heat degrades the sunscreen, reducing its effectiveness.

5. Research your workout alternatives. You can rescue a workout by knowing in advance what your alternatives are. If you’ve arrived at the gym only to find the pool closed due to a baby’s “accident,” instead of swearing “SH!T” and going home, hit that local city pool that charges a small one-time usage fee. Keep a list of bike and running trails and local parks.

6. Store hairbands on your key chain. This tip applies to long-haired ladies (and men like my husband!), and fathers with girls who are active in sports. I use a carabiner to clip hairbands to my keys, but you can hook the bands right on the keychain too.

7. Invest in some face wipes. After a recent workout I was so sweaty that I could literally wring sweat drops out of my clothes. I can hardly wait to change clothes and clean myself up after a tough workout. If I have errands to run or someplace to be before I can get in a shower, I use face wipes to do a temporary cleanup job. I like Burt’s Bees Facial Cleansing Towelettes with White Tea.

8. Plan for injury. If you’re sidelined by injury from your normal routine, learn to shake it up with cross-training and strength training. With your doctor’s okay, try low-impact aqua-running in the pool, or train on the bike for an upcoming running race (yes it’s possible — check out Train Like a Mother, mentioned above).

9. Keep extra water and snacks in your car or gym bag. Not only is it good emergency planning, keeping extra bottles of water and a snack like graham crackers, nuts or granola bars can fuel an impromptu workout.

10. Cut yourself a break. When all else fails, embrace a rest and recovery day. Use the time to readjust your workout plan for the week to make up for the day. Most importantly, adjust your mental attitude. DO NOT let today’s rest make you feel like you’ve fallen off the wagon, so you might as well not exercise the next day either. That is no excuse! It’s even more important that you exercise the next day. Use your rested body to power out a faster, harder workout than ever!

What tips do you have for motivating yourself to get the day’s workout in no matter what life throws your way? Have you ever rescued a workout by having a backup plan? Once, when I had just 30 minutes before I needed to pick up my toddler at preschool, I ran around the lake path at a nearby park. Nothing unusual about that, except I was wearing jeans at the time! Can’t stop me! 😉

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