Spring Training Update

Okay, let's just get this out of the way first: I suck at updating my blog. I know it, I feel bad about it, and I do have aspirations to improve. But for the time being, you'll have to take what you can get: an amalgamation of the past month's training and a few photos of good-looking ladies.

Secondly, let's consider this my long overdue "official" announcement: I'm racing the Vermont City Marathon (yay!)! In five weeks (yikes!)! Similar to Hartford, this is a relatively fast, relatively flat regional race within reasonable driving distance of my home that has a great setup in place for local and regional elites. They've graciously invited me to participate this year and I couldn't be more excited about chasing my second Olympic Trials qualifying time there! As an added bonus, I'll have the queenmaking help of Charlotte friend Aaron Linz (I would link to his blog here, but it's either defunct or even more outdated than my own). Aaron's a great runner and solid pacer and was easily persuaded to become my buddy on race day. I love it when a plan comes together!

So, with 26.2 looming on the horizon, exactly what is the state of my current fitness? I can confidently say it's situated somewhere between "not terrible" and "reasonably sufficient." Am I in sub-2:43 shape right this minute? Probably not. Can I get there in five weeks? Totes. And unlike at Cal, I'm not going to hold myself to lofty--some might say unreasonable--ambitions of smashing my PR and attaining the "A" standard of sub-2:37. After a winter like ours, and with only six weeks of solid training under my belt, that's simply not realistic. I won't go into the day expecting anything miraculous or exceptional, and I'll be just thrilled if I can run 2:41-2:42 and punch my ticket to Los Angeles in 2016.

A few notables from the past 4-6 weeks:

1. Four runs in the 19-21 mile range, three of them taking place the day after pretty substantial workouts, all of them taking place with Sarah B. She's crushing Boston next week and then presumably taking some time off, which means I'll have to find some sort of intrinsic motivation to put on my big girl pants and do the rest of my long runs without her between now and VCM. Is this possible?! TBD.

2. Lots more runs and workouts and even a spontaneous game of Taboo with my new Marblehead neighbor, Larissa. She and her husband were on vacation last week in some tropical clime and I still managed to run a track workout, so perhaps I can do this by myself after all. (Except that Jordan did my track session with me. But you're focusing on all the wrong details.)

3. A fun, amazing, abs hurt from laughing so hard weekend in Charleston with my Charlotte running besties, which was only slightly marred by a mysterious stomach bug that derailed my hopes of notching a new 10k PR at the Cooper River Bridge Run. I woke up feeling distinctly nauseous, half-heartedly jogged 13 minutes of warmup in hopes that conditions would improve, started the race realizing they wouldn't, ran a 5:28 first mile, then promptly threw up in the bushes. Womp womp. On a positive note, Caitlin cruised to an impressive 34:45 finish and scored some serious cash for placing second American, which meant she was willing and able to buy shots for anyone who felt well enough to drink them later that night.

At the expo on Friday evening with my lovely ladies

Headed out for a night on the town post-race. What a difference 24 hours and a curling iron can make!

Danielle M. Crockford + Dalena M. Custer = Run DMC. Fun shirts to celebrate their joint b-day on our Sunday morning wog! (P.S. Once you spot Nick's epic photobomb you won't be able to focus on anything else.)

4. A handful of solid, respectable, not-life-changing-but-somewhat-encouraging marathon-pace workouts such as 3x20 minutes and 2x6 miles, plus a few laps around the Beverly High School oval at slightly faster than 5k pace. I finally downloaded Garmin Connect, so if you're really that interested and need a distraction to pass a slow day at work, knock yourself out.   

5. An unexpected but totally, unquestionably deserved nomination for the LetsRun.com 2013 Running Photo of the Year contest featuring some (family-friendly) hot tub action with Laurie, Caitlin, Sarah C. and OH YEAH MEB after last year's Grandma's Marathon. At press time we are currently in second place behind some other picture that is somehow managing to outrank ours despite its total and complete lack of quality and overall hotness. To be honest, the voting process wasn't 100% clear to begin with and I'm not 100% sure the polls are still open, but just in case you should probably click on this link and then like or tweet our photo for good measure.

So, there you have it. Spring is finally here, my pale legs have made their first tentative forays into the ever-warming sunlight, and the training and racing season has finally begun in earnest. As I type this, tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of last year's Boston Marathon and all the events surrounding it. This entire week will serve as an opportunity to reflect and remember, while looking forward to this year's Marathon Monday with pure joy and excitement. I can't wait to race the BAA 5k and then cheer on my marathoning friends as I've done the past two years, watching Boylston Street be reclaimed for good. After that, it's just four short weeks until my own 26.2 attempt in Burlington.

I'll be ready.

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Week in Review

88 miles
4 doubles
6x10 mins. core
4 days in Texas
3 days with Brookelet

What a great week! It started with an early morning farewell run with Caitlin, progressed to absolutely gorgeous shorts-and-t-shirt morning runs with Allison in Austin, then culminated with my bestie Brooke coming to visit for her 30th birthday. Her rock star husband Lance earned huge brownie points by planning the entire thing as a surprise, including a dinner party in the North End on Saturday night that included Brooke's parents and brother and sis-in-law. Fortunately I did not spill the (Boston baked) beans in advance and everything went off without a hitch. Somehow I also found time during the weekend to participate in the Salem 10-mile race and an oceanfront 13-miler around Nahant with Emily. So many of my favorite people in such a short time frame--I love it!

Ready to hit the town--and stay up past 10pm!--with Brooke on Saturday night

 

 

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Week in Review

82 miles
4 doubles
15-mile long run
60 mins. deep stretch yoga
5x10 mins. core
4 runs with Caitlin

What can I say; any time spent in Charlotte makes for a fantastic week. (Yes, even if it was cold and rainy and dreary half the weekend.) Caitlin and I had a blast reveling in our homebody lameness, and most nights found us double fisting Nuun and wine (well, at least one of us was drinking the wine) before passing out into a deep, blissful slumber somewhere in the vicinity of 9:30pm. It was just perfect.

Other highlights of the weekend include:

• visiting with one of my all-time favorite people, Dr. Greenapple, who took time out of his weekend to meet Caitlin and I at his office for treatment
• much-needed Saturday afternoon pedicures with running buddy Laurie (God bless the poor woman who had to handle my gnarly warlocks.)
• a stellar McAlpine long run on Sunday consisting of Caitlin and I and our male queenmaking entourage
• powering through all (and I do mean every single episode) of season one of HBO's "Girls" in the span of 24 hours
• an impromptu Oscar-viewing party on Sunday night which peaked before the first award was announced and somehow devolved into a thorough and detailed Google image search of "side boob" before petering out around 10

As with every Charlotte visit, I'm incredibly sad to leave, but my feelings are assuaged by the fact that I'll see lots of runner friends at Boston next month. Can't wait!

Early to see the good doctor = impromptu core session in his office hallway

Headed out for a cold, dreary, rainy--yet somehow still fun--run on Saturday afternoon

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In Need of Speed

Wednesday, 2/21
3 mile w/u
Fartlek of (:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 1:30, 1:00, :30) x 2
2 mile c/d
Total: ~9 miles

Friday, 2/23
AM: 4 miles easy
PM: 2.5 mile w/u
Target: 10x400m w/1 min. rest; 5 @78 and 5@76
Actual: 75, 79, 76, 76, 75, 74, 72, 74, 73, 73
2.5 mile c/d
Total: 8 miles
Daily total: 12 miles

Switching gears a little bit after Mercedes, I want to focus on putting a little pep in my step for the remainder of the spring. On Wednesday morning I ventured out for a solo fartlek to test the waters leading up the week's main event...a good old-fashioned Dilworth Speed Loop workout with Caitlin! Yes, I'm in Charlotte for work this weekend, and nothing feels more like coming home than pushing myself up and down the familiar Queen City streets with my favorite Charlotte training partner. (Actually, it would've felt more normal had we done this before the crack of dawn as planned. But maybe we've gotten a little soft in our old age. When we woke at 5:30am to 37 degrees and raining, we opted to catch a few more hours of sleep and postpone the hard effort until after work...when it turned out to still be 37 and raining. Oh well.)

To be honest, I think both of us were a little nervous about this workout despite the relatively conservative splits that Jordan had prescribed. I haven't done anything this short and fast in a long time, and Caitlin has only been working out for a few weeks. Plus, the Speed Loop, despite embodying everything its moniker implies, is no track. Negotiating turns, dodging traffic and rolling with the terrain would present an added challenge and would no doubt increase the level of effort required to hit splits that appeared easy enough on paper.

I should've known, however, that there was no need to be anxious. If any two people can strike the perfect balance between competing with and motivating each other, it's Caitlin and me. Despite our burning lungs and legs (hers bright red thanks to the biting conditions and a poorly conceived wardrobe choice), we followed the workout to the letter and ended up easily besting the desired splits. And with only a minute between each rep, the session flew by faster than any in recent memory. Speedwork may never be my forte nor my favorite type of session, but taking on the challenge with Caitlin matching me stride for stride actually made a dreaded workout, dare I say it, a pretty darn fun way to spend a cold and rainy Friday afternoon.  

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Week in Review

83 miles
4 doubles
5 runs in Charlotte
1 failed workout
10 bridesmaids dresses tried on

What a terrific week! Not only did I put in some quality time on the feet with friends, but I spent the entire weekend in Charlotte and got to snuggle with Caitlin four nights in a row. I also had the honor of being the first Karhu employee to sell some of the new spring/summer 2012 Karhu shoes at retail, as they just debuted this week and were rushed to Charlotte Running Company for the Charlotte 10 Miler and 4 Mile Run. It was also super cool to see the second place male finisher and three of the top four female finishers rocking Karhu kicks at the race. The Charlotte running community has definitely embraced the brand, and I could not be more proud and honored to have played a role in that. Thank you all so much for your support!


L to R: Mo (in Craft capris), Michelle, Carolyn and Dalena. Speedy
and oh-so-stylish


Second place finisher Brad rocks his poison apple green Racers

From a training perspective, this week was largely positive. I unexpectedly succeeded in my first track workout of the season, then unexpectedly failed at what Caitlin and I thought would be a no-brainer 800-meter workout. (Our lackluster results are too embarrassing to merit a separate blog post, but feel free to read Caitlin's recap if you want to point and laugh.) Fortunately we redeemed ourselves with a quality long run on Sunday that saw appearances from over 20 of Charlotte's finest, including some of the fastest ladies I know: Stephanie "check out my new Newton contract" Pezzullo, Alana "fastest 15-year-old in the country" Hadley and Anna "was hoping to run 3:20 and ended up breaking 3 hours no problem" Donlan. At one point during the run, when the four of us found ourselves leading the charge, I remarked with all seriousness that I expect the same group to find ourselves toeing the line together at the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2016!

It goes without saying that one of the major highlights of the weekend was accompanying Caitlin for some of her pre-nuptial planning. She tried on wedding dresses Saturday and I did the same with bridesmaid dresses Sunday, all of which was accomplished with our trademark speed and sarcasm. I had no idea we'd be doing this when I booked this trip last month, but needless to say I couldn't be more thrilled that Garrett accommodated my schedule with his timely Valentine's Day proposal. It is all about me, of course, which Caitlin proved by planning a secret surprise gathering on Saturday night with some of my closest Charlotte friends and running buddies. We had a blast drinking wine, being chastised by our waitress and then closing things out with some good old-fashioned dirty dancing before calling it a night at the astonishingly late hour of 11:30. We did have a long run the next morning, after all.


What a fun night with friends!

Without question, this was one of the most enjoyable "work" trips I've taken in a long time. Thanks to everyone in Charlotte for embracing Karhu--and me!--with open arms. I can't wait to come back soon!

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Charlotte Track Workout

20:15 w/u (3 miles)
Strides, Drills
Target: 3x1200 @5k pace; each lap cut down 87, 85, 83
Actual: (84, 86, 85); (84, 85, 87); (86, 86, 83); (87, 85, 84?)
10 min. c/d (1+ miles)
Total: 7.5 miles

Today was the first of what will undoubtedly be many track workouts with Coach G-Unit. I made a relatively last-minute decision to drive up to Charlotte yesterday so I could spend today checking out apartments and taking a spin around the campus. It also fit my schedule nicely to incorporate this week's track workout, so we decided to get it out of the way this morning before tackling the real tasks of the day. One of the team's 800 guys was also in town and needed to do his own workout (8x200, I think) so we all headed over to the track together. Also, it bears mentioning at this point that we didn't work out at the actual Queens University track. Instead we drove a few miles across town to another college track. Why, you ask? Well apparently when Queens was building their super-duper new athletic complex recently, someone--and I'm not kidding with this--decided to PAVE the track with asphalt. Yes, asphalt. As in, "I'll take 'surfaces you pave a road with' for $300, Alex." I mean, can you imagine the levels of incompetent decision making that had to take place in order for this to actually happen?

But I digress. Anyhow, since I had no idea where I was, I tagged along for the three-mile warmup with Devon. And ran my 5k PR. Okay not really, but 20:15 is considerably faster than I would normally run a 3-mile warmup on my own. After we made it back to the track, I did a few strides and Coach G-Unit showed me some form drills to start incorporating into my daily routine. I dilly-dallied around and stalled for as long as I could before actually beginning the workout.

Overall, I thought this was a positive first effort. I couldn't really get the hang of the pacing and my splits went from faster to slower more often than they did the opposite, but I was pleased that the cumulative time for each interval was basically where it should be. Having someone there to watch me and call out my splits felt a bit odd, as I've been removed from this atmosphere since high school, but I'm excited that after just one session I've come away with some specific things to work on and areas to improve. I came away from this workout more eager than ever to start the track season next month.

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