BATHING WITH THE FISHES

Me, Shawna and Rosaura hanging in the parking lot afterwards

This week saw me trying to return to routine after a lovely break in Hawaii.  While the rest of the country and Europe was dealing with terrible weather and the Beast from the East, we did have a cold snap and a small ice storm to contend with, even if it was still delightfully sunny by mid day, which meant tights and gloves.  After four weeks of build it was time for a challenging 18 miler - not sure why but 18 just sounds scarier than 16 even though it is a paltry two miles more.  In most training cycles you throw in a couple of 20 milers and a couple of 18's so this was about to get real and there was a degree of apprehension on Thursday night.

Shawna and I had a guest appearance from the always peppy Rosaura, who was trying to get in 20 miles for her Boston training schedule, but as she is somewhat faster we were treated with her glorious pirouettes and spent time with her on 'guu' stops and those brief moments when you stop to complain about the bits that hurt.  There comes a time when you can no longer converse anyway - in the last 6 miles you are not feeling too chatty or expansive.   I have always felt that distance running is an exercise in learned discomfort and I enjoy clicking off the miles by switching my little hand held water bottle from one hand to the next alternating miles as a form of counting and for mental variety.  It is amazing how much we get used to small habits.  For instance I realized I really don't enjoy carrying it in my left hand - my right hand is just that tad bit stronger and bigger.  Like yoga classes where they force you to change the clasp of your hands or the cross of your legs, switching to another side of your body for something as simple as carrying water requires some mental effort and accommodation.  It is interesting to notice how reluctant we are to do so in situations of mild stress.  Like parking our car in the exact same spot when we go to work or the grocery store, it is or mind and body's way of creating less work and being lazy.  On longer runs it also pays to get awfully interested in the little things, like how you are landing that foot that has the sore ridge of hard skin on the little toe, or why that left hip is feeling like its not extending as much as the other side, just to keep your mind from wandering to how much you would rather be home on your couch eating a tray of donuts and drinking coffee.

18 felt hard, and it was sobering and briefly depressing to remember I would still have another 8 miles left of the marathon.  Instead at mile 15 I started thinking, if I feel like this at Blackfriars when all those runners are in the dark underpass weeping, weeing and rolled up in a ball of pain, I would actually be quite happy as I knew I could do this for three more miles - the re-framing was helpful and meant the three of us all finished at a much better clip than the rest of the run. Positive attitude does indeed produce a negative split.

Reflective of my impending dotage I am doing my best on recovery so ran a nice cold bath and plunked in an entire tray of ice from the freezer in it, sadly once I got in I realized it was around 60f and not nearly cold enough to be useful, just cold enough to be a bit miserable.  I dripped my way back to the kitchen with the dog regarding me with some degree of curiosity, only to find there were only a few ice packs.  There was also a temptingly large pack of King Crab Claws and a six pack of steelhead salmon, but sanity took over and I drew the line at bathing with dinner.


7 weeks to go and a drop down week to 14 miles before the next big push - March is going to be lots of running, better get that ice machine cranking!

ADAPT OR DIE - its all about the recovery!

So the last two weeks of marathon training have seen me trying to gradually build back up to where I was in early December, and I am happy to report despite some aches and pains and the heel bursitis I am now back at 40 mile weeks, with the long run at 14 miles.  Last week I was lucky enough to get to to do my long run in La Jolla in San Diego, which whilst it was hilly, meant that some perfect views of the ocean, complete with seals and surf, and my new dream home below kept me motivated; even though I knew the hamstring and heel were going to be unhappy afterwards. The key to running over the age of 50 seems to be as much about recovery as it is about the work, so being someplace where I could spend an hour stretching and rolling, then put my feet up by the pool definitely helped!  That and the fun of meeting up with my old running buddy Cheri, who is also a high school distance coach made for a great end to the week and it feels great to get in a hot tub when you are sore and stiff.

I have finally realized that I can only manage two hard workouts a week, instead of the three I used to do, so that leaves me with the long run and a medium long tempo, as one attempt at speed work and I am hobbling for days.  Obliging as ever Shawna agreed to move our 9 mile tempo to Tuesdays, now giving me two days before my long Friday run.  The day after the tempo, I go to Hot 90 which is stretching and strength in a studio nearby that they heat to 104 degrees with humidity.  If you can get over the rather confronting visual of standing there in a small room in front of a mirror, just in your shorts and bra with rivulets of sweat running down into a puddle on the floor, the effect is really beneficial.  The lack of flexibility and range of motion brought on my too many miles is helped enormously by higher temperatures, plus it gives you the sense of having worked hard without the soreness afterwards.  For my second recovery day I have a really fun and social recovery run with my bunch of friends who meet at Peet's Coffee shop but double up with a 5:30 am spin class to try and mimic the tiredness you get from running harder, even if you can't run as much as you want to.

Friday saw a 14 miler with Shawna.  The brilliant thing about being slower than her is that for the last four miles she pretty much kept me entertained with a great monologue about her plans for the next few weeks.  I used to run with her husband before he got too fast and he used to try and talk to me at the end of a run until he discovered I was too irritable to be conversational for the last 25% of any longer effort so he would keep quiet and leave me to be what I thought was focused, but was probably just grumpy, solitude.  Shawna on the other hand keeps up the convo but is perfectly happy for me to make vague grunts or 'uh huhs' once in a while.  We ran on the Iron Horse as I am happy to exploit the the fake negative split effect it provides by the mild downhill on the return. Coming back into Heather Farm Park I was feeling pretty happy, and was a bit low on fuel so feeling a little euphoric, however it was a bit soul destroying to realize that at this point in the race I would be just over Tower Bridge, and really only a little over half way through the race.  Onwards and upwards.

Seeing so many snowy or rainy, icey pictures on social media I know Californian's have it super easy, last week saw 78f in Walnut Creek, however to try and give some element of hardship I am now really going to be roughing it as we are venturing to Hawaii for a Valentine's Day treat! On a serious note, the humidity will make it more of a challenge, and I will definitely be using my heart rate as a guide rather than pace. 9 weeks to go, 16 miles on Friday and I will be loading up my hand held water bottle and trotting past the sights of Waikiki Beach and the University of Hawaii!