2013 Recap

Gizzy, Mr. Schedule, was adamant, no make that ADAMANT he was going for a walk at 7:30 p.m. last night or was going to blow out my ears (and Dave's) with his whining.  Well, he is a 13 year old boxer, and my special guy, and if you know dogs they have the attitude of an only child (or so I'm told from people with actual human children) that is an attitude of: me me me me; Gizzy won this argument, paws down.  Oh yeah, we do have three...  there isn't a sane brain cell between the two of us, well at least according to our families.  Prior to this disruption I got a quick peek at Mike B and Seth's year end recap so this gave me something to roll around in my head while Gizmo did his thing.  How to recap...  As usual I over think things.

I set my self with some BHAG - Big Hairy Audacious Goals - and I think I looked at them at the end of the first quarter and that was it.  Guess I expected I'd just meet them by chance?

Mileage -  1,500 miles, 1 race per month, 2 marathons, one with the Lung Cancer Alliances's Team Lung Love, 6 1/2 marathons.  Ummm, yeah, I ran about 1,000 miles, total between walking, biking and running I sit at:  1,455 best as I can tell it breaks down to: 433 biking and 1022 running / walking / hiking.   Running consists of 37 races of 310.8 racing miles, ridiculous, no wonder I wanted to throw in the towel and never run again after the second marathon of the year.  

37 races breaks down:

• 2 marathons
• 7 1/2 marathons
• 5 10 milers
• 1 8 miler
• 1 7.4 miler
• 3 10K
• 1 5.5 miler
• 2 5 miler
• 2 4 miler
• 12 5Ks
• 1 relay (20 miles over 30 hours on 2 hours sleep)

Ridiculous, period, end of sentence.  At some point I had designs on PRs (without putting in the requisite work, mind you, reminiscent of my 5th trimester of college - that didn't go so well, either) but at least I didn't have to face my parents with an expulsion letter from the dean, just look myself in the mirror, and be honest, not really sure which was worse.

Not quite this bad!!

PRs?  HA! Well, actually, 2! 

5K my goal was sub 27 - holding strong at Mews 2012 27:27,  my best for 2013 was 28:02 (Guilford Frost 5K where I coughed up a lung after being sick for a week) 
10K my goal was sub 1 hour - PR at the Niantic 10K 1:00:26, close...
1/2 Marathon my goal was sub 2 hours - holding strong at  Newport 2012 2:09, at least I could get Nicole to a PR for that 1/2 in 2013 at sub 2:30.
Marathon my goal was sub 5 - PR at the Arizona Rock n' Roll 5:01 close...  we won't discuss MCM, that was a disaster, much like my 5th trimester of college, you get out what you put in.

To blatantly steal, "hobbies in various states of disrepair"

Books - I read more substantial books, maybe Goodreads will tell me pages in 2012 vs 2013, because the number was pitiful.  All in all I enjoyed the books, some non-fiction, mostly historical fiction.  I am the daughter of a history teacher, she appreciates my love of historical fiction, but if there isn't a story to get involved in and characters to love and hate history doesn't really interest me and she appreciates that and offers up books of that ilk.

Knitting - no socks, just baby sweaters, lots and lots of baby sweaters, seems all were appreciated too!!  I did make amazing progress on my first Fair Isle and have yet to finish it... next year it will be finished, my knitting friend needs to catch up!  I'm not cutting apart all that work solo!!  My knitting student talked me into a cabled fitted sweater, I swear it isn't going to fit me, no matter what that gauge swatch says, so my mom may have a new blue sweater for her 70th birthday.

Diet - Out the window, let's not discuss it.  I've been eating like I'm constantly training for a marathon and drinking like I just finished one.  Betty Ford or a Weight Loss Camp probably aren't on the agenda...  the numbers on the scale are the numbers on the scale, this is the part of Weight Watchers I hate, the numbers, I can't keep to my goal weight, but I can keep to my clothing size.  So, I dropped out....

All in, I'm happy with 2013, I learned some great lessons, lessons I will carry forward into 2014.  What I most love about 2013 was getting to know other runners, to finally break out of my bashful shell and realize they really don't care about my pace, they, like I, thrive on the love of the run, period.

Sincerely,
Beth, not really sure about setting goals for 2014, just wants to focus on the 50K and being the runner she can be.  If she feels she MUST participate in a race, maybe volunteer, and not run it...  

Trail Cuteness!

Saturday 15.4 / 2.3  - Since this ultra is on a trail I need to get in trail miles. Well, yeah, duh, ultras are traditionally off road.   Burlingame is close, familiar, well marked, well traveled, and very pretty.

Anyhoodles, 16 was on the schedule and Burlingame is 8 mile loop, ok 7ish mile loop if you don't start at the line at the top of the road, which I didn't.  I stopped the spacewatch at 15.4 miles.  I contemplated running around the parking lot to get to an even 16 . Yeah, that didn't happen, I was ready to be done.  Even after wandering around for a bit I couldn't summon up the ambition or desire to do 5 laps of the parking lot (a lap is about 0.1 miles).  

Dave had already biked, he was up and out the door by 6:45 a.m. ugh...  I figured 9 a.m. would be more reasonable, especially after a bottle of wine and too much Chinese food at Dave's cousins house on Friday night.  I seriously have a problem with overindulgence.  Guess I can be glad I haven't put on 12 lbs in 5 weeks (ha ha ha)??   Dave passed me on his way home (my way out to the trail) and called to wish me luck and let me know there were two spots a little slippery in the north part of Burlingame.  Oh ok...  I was a little nervous about this,  why?  Oh, who knows why I get nervous, it is a silly waste of time, yet, still I do.  And wait, when did this good luck thing start... *scratches head*

Lap 1 was nice, a few bikers out there, one other runner, it was a little chilly at first but I warmed up quickly and settled in to a rhythm.  I do like the hydration backpack there is storage and the sloshing noise is comforting, well, when it doesn't spook me.   I'm a screamer, more of a yelper, when I'm startled.  And yes, on occasion the sloshing would startle me.  Don't ask, I've lived in this mind for 46 years and it still confuses me!  Friday night, I was telling my BIL and a cousin-in-law about the night run of the Bourbon Chase and how people would 'sneak up on me' say hi and I would scream.  I was off in my own little world and easily startled.  So yeah, approach with caution I may be off somewhere else.  I do this at work to, as Mike couldn't find the time in 3 weeks off to update his blog B could attest to.  Anyhoodles, off course, again, this trail is very runable with rooty and rocky sections I partly run and partly walk.  By May, hopefully before, I expect I will be able to run nearly the whole trail.   The Ice Age 50K trail has limited rock gardens and roots, there are however, relentless hills.  I will attack the hill part on my Wednesday runs, there are good hills around campus that will work well for that part of training.  

Trail Cuteness! There was a stocking on the other side.  Very sweet.

Lap 2 felt more difficult in parts.  By the end I felt pretty exhausted.  Eventually I'll wear the heart rate monitor and get some sort of effort reading/suffer score.  I saw a couple of the same bikers, one stopped and chatted for a minute.  I step off the trail so they can get by, that is how it works, right?  Always say Hi, have a great ride or something pleasant.  He knows several of the guys Dave knows, that was interesting.  I tried to remember something distinctive because dollars to donuts Dave was going to try and figure out who the person was.  I was thankful for the distraction and trying to think of the 20 questions Dave would ask about who I saw and knowing I didn't pay attention to the right details.  HA!

My goal was to keep my pacing between 12 and 15, and end up in the 13s  13:07 was my over all.  I'm honestly pleased with my results.   At the moment I can't imagine running 4 laps, equivalent to 50K,  I do have 19 weeks to get to that point!!  

I did move pretty slow and carefully the rest of the day, that was the most miles I've run (or is it ran) at one time since October.  I hadn't realized there had been no long runs in the last 8 weeks, huh...  A couple mile dog walk after dinner was welcome to soothe some of the aches! 

Sunday - 6 up and out before the weather turned ugly.  Dave and I have been in discussions about does it feel colder when it is dry or when it is damp. I'm still on the fence on this. What do you think?  This a.m. was low 40s and damp and it felt colder to me than if it was low 40's and dry.  I think.  I nearly turned around and put on a hat and gloves.   That may have just been an excuse to delay the inevitable first mile working out the kinks. 

Debated on the North End or not and decided to start out on one of the routes I used to walk Diesel, the first 1.5 miles.  As the steps clicked away everything felt better and better, although gloves would have been welcome.  My hands still don't feel warm.

To get to 6 a lap around the track was necessary, flat and welcome before descending towards home.  

Sincerely,
Beth, on the way to 50K, one step, one run at a time.

Ice Age 50K Training - Starts Now!

Monday - 0   This week kicks off Ice Age 50K training.  The gears started clicking in Dave's head, "Hey wait, you didn't run on Monday, you started training with a rest day? Maybe I'll take up running."  Ha ha ha, very funny.

I found a 20 week training program, alternating between hard weeks and easy weeks (it starts on a hard week)  M/F are cross/rest I will have to monkey around with the Tu/Th the weeks I travel to NYC.  I was hoping I could back this off to twice a month, unfortunately no, the recent shake ups in my division mean face time has become important, again, my bosses boss has left the company...  Blargh.  I was coasting pretty nice in the fall with every other week and not every week.  I do wish the Donnie Wahlberg doppelganger well as he goes off to fulfill his career ambitions, but really, tossing around promotion and then flying the coop a few weeks later doesn't leave me with a lot of hope.  Tis the way the worm turns.

So yes, Monday started off on as a rest day, well TRX, so a cross training day.  I misread the schedule and ran an 8 on Wed when a 6 was called for.  Whoopsie.  Being the planner I am, here we go, all ready to be scribbled and scratched over with actuals!

Tuesday  - 4.1 / 1.9  Nothing spectacular, I was up rather late on Monday night, so yeah... Took the beasts to the beach in the afternoon. I've been curious about Jax's mileage when we go to the beach, he is all over the place.  I hooked my old spacewatch to his collar and off he went.  Dave was sure he would notice it and pay attention to it and try to get it off his collar.  Actually, no.

We walked 1.9 miles and Jax did his thing for 2.8 miles, so about 40% more than we did.  Interesting.  His GPS map was fun to look at to, he is all over the place.  I'll be doing this again, kinda fun to see!

Oh and don't worry none of this counts towards the current Strava challenge, they are labeled as "hike" only "run" counts!!!  I checked, to be sure.  

My GPS map (not quite that straight of lines, way straighter than Jax's, though):



Jax GPS map (you really have to open it up to see the squiggles and circles):




Wednesday - 8 knowing we had to be on the road to the in-laws by 11 and this 8 was probably going to take me close to 90 minutes, hey I'm feeling sluggish and really didn't feel like working all THAT hard on a 26F feels like 6F day.  Plus I wore my Santa hat and that damn pom pom thing kept bonking me in the head and was getting annoying - well that is just an excuse.  Fortunately the sun was out and I was amused by the pom pom shadow, especially when it would whirl around in a circle over my head, generally going around a corner or a curve.  So that was fun and I was quite happy to have this time to myself as the rest of the day was not going to be that way.



As usual my in-laws out did themselves and we both had a grand time eating way to much. 

Thursday - 4.4 I decided to check out Westerly's North End.  A little tough getting moving!  I haven't been on that side of the tracks in a while and I always get lost in that awesome little neighborhood and this morning was no exception!  Now that I have a better map in my head I can explore some more and not worry about getting too turned around.




Friday - 0/4.2 (walk) late night Thursday in Narragansett with Dave's cousin and family made for a slow start this morning, but hey it was a rest day.  Took Gizzy for a stroll after his breakfast and enjoyed the parts where I could feel the sun.  When I was given a reprieve from the Smith/Jones clan I tried out the new harness I got for Gus.  He is a horrible puller and wiggles out of the collar and this makes me nervous with busy roads and other dogs he is and probably always will be unpredictable.  Got the harness all sized to him and he pranced, seriously, he PRANCED around the front hall.  Hmmm... this is an interesting turn of events.   I loaded up with treats and poop bags and off we went, at a reasonable pace, him prancing along with this head tilted as if to say "Check out me and my red harness, I'm da bomb, don't ya know."  Amazing.  We saw other dogs and he noticed them and just kept on his merry way, even as one had a frothing fit.  Huh...  We met up with a woman and her child and he was all into getting petted.  Huh...  That was the most pleasant walk I've had with him in, a long time.  

Perhaps the most hysterical walk was with he and Gizzy and they spied something across the street from where we were and the two of them, nearly 160 lbs of combine muscle took off, dragging me down Chester Street, just a couple blocks from the house.  I was quick witted enough to not let go and flip over so they dragged me on my back till I could stop laughing and regain control of the situation.  I think they may have stopped and looked back with this, "Really, Beth." look on their faces.  And, of course, being on the ground also meant I needed to be licked and sniffed.  Hey, at least they stopped and it was early enough in the a.m. no one saw and there were no cars.  

Saturday - 16 on the plan - two laps of Burlingame seems reasonable.  The Ice Age trails are not technical, they are relentlessly hilly so I do need to find something akin to that for my long runs. Suggestions?  Dave thinks I'd be better off in Big River, I reminded him the trails aren't marked...  then again I do have the 'find home' or whatever function on the spacewatch...  hmmmm

Sincerely,
Beth, back to training, and this makes me happy