New PR and Getting Back into Racing Gear for 2014!

I hit an all-time new PR yesterday of 21:38! That's 5 seconds faster than one I had held since 2008.  It was at the Cedar Falls High School Tiger Trot. I'm thrilled. I felt good. The weather was nice. Sunny, if a bit breezy, on an out-and-back from Pfeiffer Park, so it was very flat too. It didn't feel like a PR! My goal was to go under 24 minutes, and this was under 7 minute-mile pace.

I had had a pretty decent half marathon with Steve in Charleston, South Carolina in January, 3 minutes off my PR at 1:46--Steve PR'd, and I was so happy for him. Considering the past year of injury and recovery, and it having been January, this is all great for a start to 2014.

The PR yesterday I attribute to a few things that I have changed and grown from over these last months. As all of us living in the midwest know, the winter of 2014 was brutal. It consisted of long, record-breaking cold, and tons of dark. It was depressing to be inside all day, running on a treadmill and then in an office. Fluorescent lights are soul-sucking!

However, it also probably helped keep me from injuring myself by running too much. Also, on treadmills I am able to push it, because I don't want to be bored (see earlier blog post "Treadmills and Triumph" from 2011).

More significant factors were, I think, running with my new friends on UNI FASTR (Faculty and Staff Team Running), having gone over a month without sugar, and adding more yoga to my training.

With FASTR, I've been running a better pace, more consistently--ie: 8:30 miles, which aren't that hard to sustain, rather than 9:45 miles, which is what I do alone, because I just do. :)

AND we have fun! This photo is at the new mayor's bridge in November, 2013:

With respect to cutting out excess sugar, my acupuncturist had suggested that some of my circulation problems and tightness were caused by stress and sugar. Of course, my quip was that the two go together as a vicious cycle! However, after a last cupcake and m&ms March 15, I stopped eating the cookies, cakes, cupcakes, candy that before I had always gone to as a reward for running, or because I was bored, or needed a break from my office at work. With one day of falling off the wagon because I was starving and brownies were present, all in all, I've felt a lot better. AND I really don't crave it anymore, either. It's true--the more sugar you eat, the more you want it. Of course, I still eat tons of carbs and sugar is in them--bread, raisins, etc., but I truly think that some excess, some thing that was holding me back, weighing me down, or keeping my muscles/circulation/VO2 from being efficient was too much junk. And I've always considered myself healthy! Vegetarian, tons of fruits and vegetables...Perhaps the next step will be veganism, a la Scott Jurek.

The added yoga--I'm trying to get in at least twice a week--has also helped keep me loose, relaxed, and stretched out. That, and a foam roller and The Stick!

Stay tuned for what I hope will be more insights from successful training. I've got the Twin Cities Marathon in October, and the Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon in Boston coming up in early June!

Mental Energy and Physical Energy

It wasn't a sure thing that I'd even run the 5K this morning... I was really going back and forth in my mind. This seems to be a common plague among runners, and really, type A individuals generally. Should I run the race (or do x)? Or should I do something else? It's hot (or cold), my legs are tired, I don't feel confident, it's late in the day (or too early), etc. etc. There are any number of permutations and excuses to challenge the exercise plan that run through (pardon the pun) one's mind on any given day.

I've long known I spend an exorbitant amount of mental and emotional energy on gaming out scenarios--call me a worry wart-- for any given situation, including the daily exercise plan. I also spend a lot of mental energy in my job. Writing complex, well-developed and supported arguments wipes a body out! And teaching is even worse! The cycle is vicious, however, because I run to calm the gerbils in my mind, and yet, when I'm not running, I'm worrying about when the next run will be, will it be comfortable, will my foot hurt, etc. etc.

There's a new movement towards zen/meditative running, or at least, incorporating yogic and meditative breathing into one's running form. I haven't (consciously) tried this, but I do know that I've thought about it! And maybe that's the first step...and I've even mentioned it to a newbie runner friend who was struggling to breathe on a recent run. After 20 years of running, maybe I'm still a newbie when it comes to calming the gerbils, or taming my "monkey mind," as these mental exhaustive energies are called in the Runner's World piece. It's certainly taken me years to figure out when to rest so as not to get injured, and to be grateful rather than annoyed that a 5K turned into a 2.3 mile tempo run.

That's what ended up happening this morning--I went to the 5K with a calm mind. I wasn't going to worry about time (it was hot! it was a trail course!), and I wasn't going to worry about pushing myself too hard. I was just going to run what felt good. So when I took a wrong turn and accidentally cut the last part of the course, I was actually grateful. I got in what I had wanted to do--a bit of a tempo run--and I didn't care that I had no time. I was almost zen about it (except that I had to then negotiate the race volunteers...we exchanged multiple apologies...it was no one's fault!)

In any case, today's run confirmed what I know to be true, and perhaps could be a mantra: It's always a good day when you run.

5K-9

Steve and Thea run to the finish at the 5K-9

 Got another great run in this lovely Saturday morning. 5K of it was with Steve and our pooch Thea. They tore it up!

Replenishing with much-needed water

Ups and Downs--Here's to 2014

It has been fourteen months since my last post. What has happened in this past year? Quite a lot. A lot of ups and downs, joys and much pain, both physical and emotional. I write again today because I ran my first 10 miles since November, 2012. 10 mile route, Cedar Falls

The highlights:

• Finishing my fourth Twin Cities marathon in October. Not fast, but finished after a lot of mental energy spent worrying about knee and foot injuries.
• Seeing old friends in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia marathon in November and running there with my husband.
• Running in Evanston along the lakefront and seeing my twin in July, 2012; Running along the Witte Singel in Leiden in the dark, in a light snow fall in January, 2013; Running in the woods and along the river in Aarau, Switzerland in January, 2013 while visiting my twin; Running in shorts in Central Park in February, 2013; Running in Big Sur and Sacramento with my husband in July, 2013
• Running a relatively fast Furry 5K with my husband and pooch Thea
• Biking 50 miles with my husband and a bike club for the 4th of July, 2013
• Running 8 miles, proudly, and getting a pedicure with my husband on my birthday, 2013
• Training a good friend for a 5K and seducing her into the sport of running!

The lowlights:

• A year of plantar fasciitis, of varying degrees, plaguing me since July, 2012. Knee pain. Cortisone shots, physical therapy, orthotics, and many acupuncture appointments to try to stay active.
• Many friends and acquaintances diagnosed with various cancers. Makes my PF look like nothing.
• Newtown, CT; Boston Marathon bombing. Drones. 
• Two feline family members died, in March and July, 2013, respectively.
• A lot of stress, generally. Unsurprisingly, this past year was stellar for me, professionally, and we remodeled the upstairs, both of which could be considered highlights. But these things take their toll...

The silver linings:

• I learned a lot about myself, emotionally and physically. I try to live in gratitude each day, and manage stress better.
• Acupuncture, meditation, intimacy with family and friends help manage stress.
• I took up spinning, and learned to love biking, even road biking! Two 50 mile rides under my belt this summer! I never would have done this if I hadn't been injured.
• Only running the 1/2 marathon in Philadelphia proved I can listen to my body...I was proud of myself for cutting it short.
• I cherish any running at all. A 5k, even slow, is a victory. Running 2 miles with a friend is a victory. 8 miles is icing on a cake. It's all relative.

I ran the Sturgis Falls 5K this June--not fast, but I did it!
The Stop sign is at my back. Symbolic?

Running New York

I have been in the Empire State for the last two weeks on a research trip. While I love my research, library study is lonely, solo work largely done inside under soul-sucking fluorescent lights, so the best parts of my trip thus far have been sharing amazing long runs and food with old friends. Today, I had a fantastic run in New York City! Jean and Nick took me on a fantastic 13.5 loop of Brooklyn (formerly Breukelen) and the lower end of Manhattan. I was so happy to run down the promenade with the skyline of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and Governor's Island (formerly Nutten Island, where the first boatload of Walloons set up in 1624, until Peter Minuit began building a fort across the way in 1626), all under a perfectly clear blue sky! We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and then ran through Battery Park and through the tiny area that was Nieuw Amsterdam--past the Customs House, which is where Fort Amsterdam was, and the plaque for the old Dutch church built in 1633 at Pearl and Broad Streets.

Then we wound our way back up past the Old Slip, through the Bowery (Stuyvesant's old farm) and across  the Manhattan Bridge and through Fort Greene. I had the best tour guides!

Of course, part of the fun of long runs is the food and drink post-run! And Jean and Nick did not disappoint. We had fantastic breakfast tacos at Guero's Taco Bar (Nick knows everybody in his Franklin Ave-Brooklyn 'hood, and you can follow his blog about it here). Post-run calories were also a highlight when I ran a longish solo11.5 miler in Albany last week. After the run, I enjoyed catching up with a college friend (has it really been 10 years??) and sampling tasty beer (mmmm Wee Heavy...) and local Albany craft brews at Ye Olde English Pub and Evans Ale Pumphouse.

 

Next week, I'll try to run long in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while there for a conference. Hopefully the "Great Lakes" state can compete with great Empire... (I love that the Dutch in part began their empire in what became the Empire State in our new empire 400 years later...)

Claes Jansz Visscher, View of Nieuw Amsterdam, c. 1651. Handcolored intaglio.