See Sarah Run

I’m about to go run a marathon and I’ve got some thank yous to say. The most obvious and most important ones are to my family. The Astonishingly Incredible Mervus keeps the home front ticking along while I am out running or at the gym, usually both Saturday and Sunday mornings. He took over the early-early shift when our son started high school last fall without batting an eye. When I ask “Can I….?” his answer is always yes. When I’m too tired to cook or wash dishes, he takes care of it just like he takes care of me. My kids are kids. They don’t protest too much when I’m gone and they like treats from the café after long runs. I adore them. They offer hugs when I’m tired and put up with me when I’m bitchy. But without Mervus, this show falls apart, and I am beyond grateful to him.

Then I’ve got my team, headed by Coach Mick. The search for a new coach wasn’t an easy one and it took me a couple of tries to get it right, but I’ve sure found a gem now. Wondering why I am randomly running a marathon in Florida? Guess who I get to meet there! Tough Guy Trainer and the Maestro have seen me through multiple training cycles by now. Lifting weights or getting needles in your butt – these are surprisingly good times to talk and sometimes I wonder if I am going to see an extra charge for therapy somewhere, but it hasn’t happened yet. Instead, these guys believe in me and my dreams over the long haul and help keep me healthy and strong so I can keep doing what I love. This time around I’ve also had some help from a nutritionist, who is still in need of a nickname, but who has taught me a ton about how to fuel my runs and my life.

My local gang populates my training log and without Snarky Girl and Teacher Runner and the rest of the crew, I would be a lonely runner girl indeed. My running girlfriends are the sisters I’ve always wanted. But my virtual running life has also expanded dramatically in the past year or so. The Fast Bitches, my online go-to girls group, are equally ready to analyze splits or outfits from ThredUp. These ladies, well, I can’t really express what they mean to me. The Smart Mouths coalesced around the Hartford marathon last fall. We egg each other on and talk serious smack when it comes to Strava, but we’re also ready to help work through more serious training dilemmas and the life dilemmas that sometimes come along with them. Somewhere along the way, I also picked up the Chicago Boys, my High Power Running Mentors #1 and #2. They’ve helped far more than they realize with everything from race planning to outfit selection. They’ve also provided much of the soundtrack for this training cycle, an awesome mix of modern Broadway musicals, the DJ Girl Talk, a little random hip hop and some electronic dance music. Finally, I started blogging at Salty Running this fall, and behind the scenes, the Saltines provide a huge dose of girl power and laughter on a daily basis.

Saying thank you to some people risks forgetting others so this enterprise makes me a bit nervous. But a few individuals have been in my corner consistently and deserve a shout out for sure. I think Rashi has done more long run miles with me than anyone else and she has to come from out of town to run with me. Thank you for the company and the fabulous talks and the many Starbucks dates. Southern Rock sends me a “go get ‘em tiger!” text basically every morning and is always in my corner. Pete at the FatMan Chronicles turned me on to the Two Gomers and is a great one for PODCAST CHAT! Or whatever other topic we stumble onto. There’s a budding track star out there and GlitterMom and new friends to swim with – These folks and their enthusiasm for sharing the journey keep my own motivation high. If I’m forgetting you, I’m so terribly sorry – apparently it takes a village for me to run a marathon and I am super grateful to my village.

One last important shout out. My parents came to my first marathon in 2013, but they missed seeing me cross the finish line. They’ll be in Florida this weekend and with any kind of luck, they’ll see me cross this time around. I suspect half the time they think their daughter is insane with all this running business, but some pieces of this project – dream big, stay determined over the long haul, do what you love, build your community – these are things I learned from them. Thank you, mom and dad, for always backing me in my crazy endeavors. I realize this one is pretty unexpected, but stay open to life’s surprises.

I’ve been a coffee lover for a long time, but this training cycle, I’m taking my caffeine usage up a notch. Read all about it over at Salty Running.
http://www.saltyrunning.com/caffeine-running-performance/

My race is really getting close. This week was marked by more work-work and more bad weather and some noticeable irritability. But also more girlfriend runs, which makes me really super happy.

Monday, 1/29, Morning Crew – Swim 2100

The usual Monday morning swim. I’ve become pretty lax about swimming anything longer than a 100 without a break so today I got inspired and did a 300. Did not drown, always a plus. The swim-after-long-run combo is so good I feel like evangelizing about it, but I try not to get totally weird on people like that. Continue reading →

Focus.

I’m on the treadmill at the gym, doing my standard Wednesday morning easy four miles. The wintry mix outside has driven me to the ‘mill for only the third or fourth run this training cycle. I hop on there, press the appropriate buttons, and start running. In front of me, a rack of t-shirts.

Focus.

That’s the word on the shirt in the center of the rack, right in my line of vision. It’s the word Tough Guy Trainer used when he tagged me on FaceBook last week. It’s my word of the year for 2018.

Focus.

There’s some kind of Batman movie on the TV set and occasionally I glance at that but I prefer staring at the t-shirt with laser-like vision. Last year was all about the relentless pursuit of recovery and the absolute joy of returning to healthy running. Last year was about re-birth in ways I still can’t articulate entirely. I bring those ideas with me into this year.

Focus.

It’s a little crazy, but in this moment, on this treadmill, I can feel all of last year gathered up inside me. I have a marathon to run in very soon. I love the marathon and this is part of what I love about it. The feeling of running and running and running and everything else falls away. The marathon teaches me how to do this, how to focus, but this is my word for the whole year, for all of 2018. Let’s go.

The most common running question I got from friends this week: So, are you tapering now? Hmmm. I guess so? I asked Coach Mick and he said he prefers the term peaking, from Greg McMillan. Therefore no, I am not tapering; I am peaking. I like that term much better anyway.

Monday, 1/22, Morning Crew – Swim 2000

I was pretty sore and creaky after Sunday’s 20 miler, but these Monday morning recovery swims have been pure gold. I felt SO much better afterwards. I still ducked in to see the Maestro for a little dry needling and massage just to keep my cranky right hip in working order. Continue reading →

This week felt pretty crazy, to be honest. I kicked things off with 20 miles, followed by my kids getting sick, all while the Incredible Mervus was out of town – it’s a bit of a blur. The weather is also all over the place with temperatures from 5 to 55 degrees. The second half of the week had two really solid runs and a great birthday party though, so at least things went out on a high note.

Monday, 1/8, Morning Crew – 20 “easy” miles (10:01)

With the Incredible Mervus out of town for work all week and super cold temps yesterday, I moved the long run to Monday this week. It was still pretty cold today but it got above 20 degrees so that counts as practically a heat wave. This was all at an “easy” pace though I am reluctant to use the word “easy” to describe anything about a 20 mile run! Rashi was able to join me for the first 10 miles and then I did a couple of loops from campus after she left. I’m not sure I have ever enjoyed the post-run lunch more than I did today. In a classic Mother Runner event, I had about twenty minutes of peace after I put the kids to bed before my son started vomiting, and continued with that All. Night. Long. I am counting that as the second workout of the day and I’m not completely kidding that it felt pretty equivalent to the last 6.2 miles of a marathon.

Tuesday, 1/9, Morning Crew – yoga DVD

I was supposed to swim today but both kids were home sick with the stomach bug. The 20 miler left me pretty sore but the yoga helped. Even pretty lackadaisical uninspired yoga is better than no yoga.

Wednesday, 1/10, Lunch Time Crew – 4 easy miles (9:22 pace), plus strength training

Rose was back in school today and Aidan was well enough to leave for a couple of hours. Thank goodness! It was also ABOVE FREEZING and sunny while I ran. A miracle!

This guy has saved my marathon dreams more times than I can count.

Thursday, 1/11, Morning Crew – 9 miles, tempo run, (9:05 pace, including WU and CD)

The goal here was 1 mile warm up, 7 miles working down from marathon pace to half marathon pace, 1 mile cool down. I ended up just running the 7 miles at somewhere just a tad slower than half marathon pace, but whatever. I’ve had some tightness in my right hip and quad that seemed worse on this run, so when I arrived home to a text from the Maestro, the best PT in the world, I decided that was fate. He could see me right away and was happy to do a little dry needling, which fixed me right up. The Maestro is a dear friend as well as an awesome PT so we had a great visit.

Friday, 1/12, Morning Crew – 8 miles at goal marathon pace, (9:04 pace)

SO SO incredibly happy with this run! With a goal marathon pace of around 9:00-9:10, my splits were: 9:11, 9:07, 9:04, 9:12, 8:58, 9:02, 9:04, 8:29. I was aiming for a little on the slower side for the first four miles for some practice not going too fast. Then I was able to pick it up just a teeny tiny bit for the last four, even though the weather took an absolute nosedive with the arrival of wind and lots of rain. This workout was a real confidence booster!

Saturday, 1/13, Morning Crew – yoga

The Incredible Mervus was supposed to arrive home last night, but a weather delay had him stuck in Louisville. With lots of miles in the past week and a birthday party on deck for tomorrow, I opted for Jasyoga. A little guidance from Chicory at Salty Running helped me find The Running Efficiency Boost on there, which I liked quite a lot.

Sunday, 1/14, Lunch Crew – 5 easy miles, (9:22 pace)

Rose turned 10 today! I pushed my long run off to Monday again because there is no way that was compatible with the preparation involved for an Epic Cookin’ Birthday Party (!!). The Incredible Mervus and I share party prep fairly equally (ok, he often does way more….) and this event went spectacularly well. I managed to sneak in five miles to help keep the mama-stress level within bounds. We all collapsed in the TV room once it was over for our continued family viewing of the Marvel movies. Super heroes to end a super day.

Very happy birthday girl!

Total: 46 miles

Sometimes when I’ve done a year in review, I’ve listed the races I did, including times and how I placed. That would be a pretty short re-cap this year. It also wouldn’t capture even a sliver of what 2017 was actually about. I was trying to figure out how to organize some kind of yearly reflection post but if there were too few races, there was too much of everything else. Too many critical moments, important people, insights and choices and changes. It was a big year.

One thing that has helped me reflect on the year is a series of goal-setting conversations  at Sub-30 over the past few weeks that have been truly rewarding. A lot of them have been focused around the question of “Finding your why”. Why get up at 5:30am or even earlier to go jump in a cold pool and swim? Why ride hour after hour on a bike that doesn’t go anywhere? Why track down yet another physical therapist? Why run when it’s too hot or more recently when it’s way too cold? I’m not totally there yet with my answer, but I am much closer than I used to be.

An exercise that has proved enlightening on the whole “find your why” topic has been picking a word for the year. The word for the year provides a kind of focal point, something to refer back to when you might be losing your way. I first heard about it from FatMan of the FatMan Chronicles, who got it from the Two Gomers, who got it from Oprah. But even Mario Fraioli is getting in on the act [in issue 113]. I’ll have more to say on my word for 2018 later, but over at Running for Real, someone asked people to come up with a word to describe 2017 retroactively, a somewhat different project, but a really good one.

I had thought that my word for 2017 was “Relentless”. That’s how I felt all spring as I pushed and pushed and pushed. First with my many (failed) attempts to return to running and then more successfully as I switched my focus to recovery. When I didn’t really want to go to the pool, when I was tired of driving around to physical therapy, when I had to wait what seemed like forever for my custom orthotics to arrive – Relentless is a word that helped me get through it.

But in looking back over the whole of 2017, relentless did not feel right for the second half of the year. In a classic things-look-darkest-before-the-dawn scenario, the turnaround came with the diagnosis of a partial tear of the plantar fasciia, not just regular old PF. That diagnosis brought five weeks in the boot and a much-needed change in focus. It also indirectly led to a change in coaches because it was during the hiatus from running that got to know Coach Mick and eventually signed on with him.

Even though the return to running seemed glacial, other non-running parts of life improved as well. In May, Rose and I officially joined First Church of Middletown, claiming a spiritual home after decades of searching and dabbling. I spent the summer traveling, for work and fun, going to Switzerland, Scotland, Germany, Cape Cod, Ithaca and twice to Pennsylvania. The traveling weeks sometimes felt relentless but mostly joyful. I got to see some beautiful parts of the world. I spent time with valued friends and colleagues. I learned an awful lot. I was able to walk and even run in some of those places.

In July I returned to running again and officially started getting workouts from Coach Mick on July 24^th. I ran five races in the fall, starting with a 5K PR at Old Wethersfield, then the VIA Marathon Relay in September, the Hartford Half, the Ghost Train Half, and the Manchester Road Race. Some of those races had relentless aspects to them, but more than anything, my heart was so happy. When I look back over my photos from those races, I see smile after smile. If the word for the first half of the year was relentless, for the second half, it had to be joy.

But the word I ultimately want to choose for 2017 is “reborn”. The word is stolen from a friend over at Running for Real, but it fits so well. Remember that butterfly post? Six months of relentless patience. Six months of utter joy. Reborn indeed.

The second week of brutally cold weather, plus a major winter storm as a bonus! Even for Connecticut in January, this weather is awful. The running is going pretty well even though winter is definitely starting to wear me down.

Monday, 1/1, Morning Crew – Yoga

Monday is generally a swim day for me, but with it being New Year’s, the pool was closed. I had thought to throw in an easy run to kick off the new year, but Coach Mick advised against that. I ran a lot of miles last week and plenty coming up this week, so yoga it was. I started 2017 with a solo yoga workout after cleaning the cat vomit off my mat. Highly symbolic of how things were going a year ago. This year, though, I had excellent company with both Snarky Girl and Olivia in our playroom “studio”.

Tuesday, 1/2, Afternoon Crew – 10 miles, tempo intervals

I peeked ahead to this workout at some point last week thinking, oh, next Tuesday won’t be that big of a deal. Um, no such luck. Seven 1 mile repeats with two at marathon pace, three at half marathon pace, two at 10K pace, plus warm up and cool down. Really? Apparently really. My schedule is still flexible so I worked early in the morning and ran in the late afternoon to take advantage of the warmest time of the day. The first two marathon pace repeats were a bit off (one too fast, one too slow…), but then I stopped looking at my watch and totally nailed the rest of the workout. Interesting. I could not possibly be happier with how this went!

Wednesday, 1/3, Lunch Time Crew – 4 easy miles (9:31 pace), plus strength training

Running from the gym, as per usual. It was sixteen degrees when I ran. I wondered if I was losing my mind to still be outside but I knew even worse weather was on the way. Followed the run with a great lifting session with Tough Guy Trainer.

Thursday, 1/4, Morning Crew – Goal pace run, 1 mile warm up, 8 at marathon pace

The “bomb cyclone” storm hit today and drove me inside at last. 9 miles on the treadmill with 8 at marathon pace is not fun. At all. I listened to the album “All Day” by Girl Talk, recommended by High Power Running Mentor #1 and that got me through most of it. I didn’t take in any fuel, which was probably an error, but whatever. Today was kind of about survival and I survived.

Friday, 1/5, Morning Crew – 5 easy miles (10:10 pace)

5 miles at 10 degrees with 14 mph wind and crappy road conditions the day after yesterday’s treadmill extravaganza meant that this did not feel entirely “easy”. However, Snarky Girl was game for coming along and she had fun hurdling the snow drifts and outside beats inside except when the “bomb cyclone” is actively raging so I got it done.

Saturday, 1/6, Morning Crew – swim, then strength training

Snarky Girl came with for swimming as well. What would I do without her? We had a nice swim. Lifting was just so-so. I have kind of had it with the weather. I did go get new shoes today and spent a great afternoon playing Agricola with Aidan. My new winter weather plan is Agricola and whisky all day, every day. Not sure that will help with my marathon project though….

Sunday, 1/7, Afternoon Crew – 5 miles, Mixed fartlek run

I moved my long run this week to tomorrow when the weather is finally supposed to break. I spent some of today watching the weather app and waiting for the warmest moment to go run, which turned out to be 14 degrees and 6 mph wind. Woot. Luckily, I love this workout, which is just hard/easy for equal amounts of time, with the intervals getting shorter and shorter. I was happy to get out of the house and at least as happy to get back in the house. We are in hunker down mode.

Total: 33 miles

Catching up a little bit over here!

This week combines some of the lowest temperatures I’ve ever run in and the my highest weekly and monthly mileage ever. January marathon training in New England. Not for the faint of heart.

Monday, 12/25, Post-Presents Crew – 5 miles easy (9:37 pace)

With everything closed for Christmas, my usual cross-training options weren’t available. That’s ok – I really wanted to run today anyway. My incredibly indulgent family just smiled when I skipped out after presents for five chilly miles through the newly-fallen snow. Gorgeous.

Tuesday, 12/26, Vacation Crew (i.e., run whenever the hell you want to) – 7 miles, speed intervals

I had 2 miles warm up, 5×800, 2 miles cool down. The track is under snow, but I’ve been doing speed work on the path near the track. Teacher Runner and Blue Turtle joined me for this outing because they are crazy and who doesn’t run 800s just for fun the day after Christmas? But actually, it was really fun blasting up and down the path. Aiming for around 4:00, I ran 3:55, 3:48, 3:57, 3:51, 3:57. The odd intervals are ever so slightly uphill, which ends up mattering, apparently. I was very happy with how this went!

Wednesday, 12/27, Lunch Time Crew – 4 easy miles (9:47 pace), plus strength training

The usual Wednesday run from the gym. Except much, much colder. The creek is frozen now so I didn’t see any ducks. Tough Guy Trainer kind of rolls his eyes at me when I finish a run at this temperature, but whatever. I’m staying off the treadmill as long as I can.

Thursday, 12/28, Vacation Crew – 7 easy miles, (9:26 pace)

Teacher Runner joined me for 7 miles at 6 degrees, wind chill of -7. It’s possible we are insane. In a week filled with very cold running, this was the coldest. The Incredible Mervus gave me top-notch cycling gloves for my birthday and I’ve started to wear them while running. They are amazing. My other coping mechanism? I downloaded the WTForecast weather app and I’m sending profanity-laced screen shots to my coach, who de-camps to Florida for the winter. Smart man.

Friday, 12/29, Afternoon Crew – 10 miles, tempo run

I usually do tempo runs on Thursday, but yesterday’s weather was so brutal that I moved this to today, which was marginally better. “Better” meant 17 degrees with wind chill of 5. Which is still pretty horrifyingly cold, but it was definitely better than Thursday. 2 mile warm up, 7 miles at half marathon effort, 1 mile cool down. One of the most challenging things about these longer runs is I can’t easily get to fuel or water with my amazing cycling gloves on. My nutritionist has me fueling with the hippie sandwiches so I pretty much have to stop entirely to eat them. Whatever. It can not possibly stay this cold forever. I had been worried about this run and I was incredibly glad to have it over with.

Saturday, 12/30, Morning Crew – swim, then strength training

I had considered moving my long run to today, mainly because of weather issues, but I wasn’t super keen on that idea. Coach Mick pointed out that I had already run 11 consecutive days (surely a first for me!) and when I woke up to a text from JJ asking to swim, I decided that was fate. We had a great swim and then I lifted at the YMCA. Nothing outside today, whew.

Sunday, 12/31, Afternoon Crew – 18 miles, last 6 at marathon pace

Trying to combine marathon training and church attendance has been one of the challenges this fall. After close to a decade of being sporadic church-goers, I decided a year ago to try to commit to going more frequently and Rose and I joined our congregation officially last spring. I do not understand how spirituality and running are linked exactly – or at all – but I know that for me, they are. My regular gang runs Sunday mornings and they are willing to start early because I am not the only one trying to fit in church. But 18 miles would mean really early and really dark and really cold. So I scheduled this run for after church and then Rashi was able to join me for the first 7 miles. I sort of don’t want to ‘fess up about how cold it was in case my parents read this. Damn cold. But we got the first 7 done together and then I did 5 more and then the last 6, which came out surprisingly close to goal marathon pace. So all in all a success and I got Starbucks and then hot soup for New Year’s Eve. Plus, this run put me at over 50 miles for the week and over 200 for the month – two milestones I’ve never reached before! Ending the year on a high note!

Total: 51 miles (201 for the month of December!)