Long Run – Page 6

Taking it in, mile by mile

September 27, 2008 by Juls 9 Comments

During the past many months, I have been making a concerted effort to stop and smell the roses. I have often been known to even stop and take a picture. We are only on earth for so long after all. I figure that I might as well enjoy these things while I can.

Likewise, as my marathon rapidly approaches, so does the ending of my season with TNT. The “Team” is filled with some awesome folks and, although I do not plan to join the team any time soon, I hope to continue to cultivate some of the friendships beyond the ending of the training.

Today, was the last “long” run of the season. We were treated to a beautiful run along the coast of Northern California. Everything came together for a perfect day. Even the weather cooperated. While 95 degree weather was reported back by the house, the coast remained ever so slightly foggy with a cool breeze. It was fantastic running weather.

I was in an exceptionally happy mood. It was hard not to be in a good mood. I anticipated the beauty in the miles ahead, and celebrated the success of the miles behind me. Soon after the start of the run, I pulled away from the others. I ran solo during most of the early miles with the knowledge that those in my “originally assigned” wave would soon be passing me. I didn’t let it bother me. In fact, I was looking forward to seeing the gang of speedsters.

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Now what?

September 7, 2008 by Juls 7 Comments

The apprehension that I was feeling towards my long run was directed externally, when it should have been internally focused. I was wrong about the trail’s ability to hold four TNT teams. There was more than enough room. It would appear that the trail of the day was essentially reserved for us to take over. There was plenty of room to get around as the teams moved in either direction.

On this HOT day, I was luck enough to be granted permission to begin running earlier than my wave’s scheduled time – thanks to Coach Tim! My friend, Cindy, joined me for the first 8 miles. We were joined up by Simone, the team manager, for a bit of it. Riding along side of us on her bike, we chatted the early miles away. After a bit, she rode on ahead to check on the other participants.

After Cindy left me, I was alone for the better part of the time. I began trying to calculate how many more miles until I hit the 18 mile turn-around. We had started our morning run by running out and back 3 miles in the opposite direction. This complicated the math problem a bit, but not enough to ease my mind when I could not figure it out with total certainty. I was essentially alone on a sun-beaten trail, and unable to complete simple addition in my head. When I finally hit the turn around, I sipped my gatorade, ate a M&J power snack, and a GU packet.

On my way back, there were more of my team mates around me, most were heading in the opposite direction. I met up with Erin at the aid station around mile 12. Fighting her way back from IT band issues, Erin is amazing. She faithfully adheres to the recovery plan, making the best of each and every step. She leads her wave at the track workout by a huge margin, and obediently stops when she has hit her prescribed limits on mileage or time. We hooked up and began running together, but right away I could feel the difference in pace as I tried to fight back the fatigue and keep pace with Erin. A mile later, I admitted that her pace was too fast for me to keep. I bid her goodbye and let her slip away. I did not lay eyes on Erin again until she had hit her limit on running time and began walking the final 3 miles.

I could feel my fatigue in a big way but I did not know that it was so visible until Coach Kris asked me if I was okay when I hit the aid station. The day was already hitting record highs, and I was feeling the effects. I was not totally defeated though. I was determined to somehow cover the 20 miles I’d set out to run. Kris reminded me that the final miles were more shaded than not. It was encouraging. I drank down my water, and plodded onward.

Even though most Nike participants will not run 20 miles until closer to race day, it is ever important to me to have a 2nd 20-mile run under my belt. I’ve been noticing the lack of miles on my running log this training season. I don’t think that I have ever been so mileage deficient going into a race. It is difficult not to feel ill prepared to toe the line.

I cannot blame it on TNT. The organization has done all that it promises its participants running wise. I have no doubt that I will be able to finish my marathon come October 19th. I, however, had bigger hopes for this marathon. I wanted to work my way back towards my previous level of fitness. I am saddened to realize that the physical aspect of this marathon will likely be a struggle more than a triumph.

Too a large extent, I am the one to blame. For whatever reason (and I have many), I was not as diligent in my cross-training as I should have been. Additionally, my OYO runs were often the shorter of the given distance range. While I sit back in awe of Erin, I realize that I did not do as she did. I have not been fighting my way back as hard as I need to. In order to get to where I want to be in my running, I need to give my training a lot more dedication. The question is: Do I want it bad enough?

The act of running 20 miles twice in a training season gives me a little reassurance that I can somehow suffer through the 26.2 marathon miles. That was what fueled me to run past the final aid station (where everyone was celebrating being finished), to cover an additional 2 miles. Hopefully, those final miles are not a sign of what I am in for come race day. They sucked. If they are, I know that I can push through.

I have 6 weeks until race day. I can use this time to buckle down and make the best of what time remains in my training season, or I can toe the line knowing that I realized my short comings and did nothing about it.

Apprehension

September 5, 2008 by Juls 5 Comments

I’m a little apprehensive about tomorrow’s run. My worry does not stem so much in the fact that I grand plans of covering 20 miles – in the HEAT. I am concerned about the amount of TNTers who plan to share the path with me. Besides our summer team, the fall team is kicking off their season on the same path. If that weren’t enough, two other teams are coming over the hill to share the trail too.

I know that it will be fine. I will admit, I am a bit grumpy about running on a schedule when YaYa’s football schedule is so demanding. It feels so out of control. Still, Coach Tim did grant me permission to start earlier than my wave was set to go at. Additionally, I invited one other person to share the trail with us – Cindy will be running 10 miles.

As for the number of teams on the trail, I just need to get out there and see for myself. I am sure that I will have as great a time as one could have while running in 95 degree weather. Right now, I need to get to bed and revive my “Go Team” attitude.

– Good Night –

Busy Mii

August 24, 2008 by Juls 5 Comments

It’s been too long since my last blog entry. I have been interrupted every time I have sat down to write.

YaYa’s 10th Birthday (Thursday) turned out very nice. His oldest brother came up from Southern California and spent the day with him. While I was at work, they went out for breakfast and then when bowling. They were all leaving for football practice just as I arrived home to put the lasagna in an oven which was programmed to have it nice and hot by the time we returned home. I set the table ahead of time with a table cloth, Grandma F’s good dishes, and the special candles given to me (from Tom and boys) at the last birthday where our family was intact. Football practice was fantastic – he was moved up to the next string and there were cupcakes to celebrate the coach’s birthday. YaYa had two. We went home for dinner and cake. Then we all played 9 holes of golf in the comfort of my living room – thanks to Wii magic. My cute, Julie-like Mii lost miserably.

On Friday, I attended the funeral of my great aunt. Common to this day, was my knack for feeling lost (whether I truly was or not). The most obvious occurrence was when the funeral procession of cars was interrupted by a single car. Seeing the car, which was unmarked as “FUNERAL,” the police escorts left half the procession to find our own way. It was reminiscent of Grandma’s funeral only, this time, we were left to our own devices as stop lights, freeway changes, coupled with no body knowing the name or address of the cemetery added to fiasco. Lesson learned: Get the name of the cemetery (and address) before going to the car. *sigh* You’d think that we would have learned this from Grandma’s funeral.

The reception that followed was rich in traditional food from Guam, as well as a whole lot of people who had a remarkable similarity to me. Do to a VERY large family (my grandfather was 1 of 10 siblings), I was introduced to A LOT of relatives – some for the 1st time, and many others from many times prior. My phrase of the day was, “Tell me how we are related to each other.” Days later, I am still asking the question as many of my cousins and 2nd cousins hook up on Facebook. It’s a pretty awesome task to try to put it all together.

On Saturday, I was unable to join the “team” for our long run. I was a bit disappointed as this run was to be on the Nike course. Still, I knew when I signed up that training with the team would be difficult. Lucky for me, I know that I can get ‘er done when I need to. I set foot out the door at 6:30 AM and logged 6 of the 18 miles before waking YaYa for football practice. Thanks to some work in my area, my favorite brother was staying at the house and held down the fort while I ran. I hit the streets again at 9 AM for the balance of the mileage. I left YaYa at football, and waved at the coach as I set out to cover ground right from the practice field. I eyed my heartrate carefully after having inhaled my newly prescribed dose of 2 puffs of Albuterol. As I climbed the first long hill I watched in amazement as my heartrate remained at a remarkably low rate.

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In the long run

August 8, 2008 by Juls Leave a Comment

I thought about my blog post, and how I would describe my run. I worked out the little phrases I’d use and the descriptions of how I felt as I plodded along. All of those thoughts have since escaped me. I have only the following dull description of my run for you:

Having not been able to join the team for this weekend’s coached run, I made plans to do my long run early. After all, what good is a vacation if you cannot go long on any day of the week. Wendy had graciously offered to have YaYa over while I did the deed. I left straight from her home in the effort to make the best of the time available.

Just prior to the starting out, I pulled out my iPhone to select the entertainment. I was a little disappointed to find my playlists had not transferred when I switched the computer which I sync it with. I decided that a sampling from my entire music selection would have to do.

With my varied taste in music playing in one ear, and the blowing wind playing in the other, I set out towards the trail. The music acted as a backdrop to the thoughts that went in and out of my head. I evaluated how I felt about the various things that entered my mind. Was I still angry, sad, or frustrated? There was a familiarity with this exercise. It was nice to come into the present. Sometimes a song would trigger a thought, and other times it helped me to escape one.

I wasn’t breaking any records during this run, but I felt good during the majority of it. I kept to the dirt whenever it was available, and kept my pace nice and easy. My only consideration was to be back at a reasonable time for Wendy. I sent her text message updates from each of my gel stops.

As far as my knee went, I only felt a twinge on only a couple of occasions. The first was as I stepped up onto the sidewalk, from the trail, while stopping for gel. It was no different than the feeling I get when entering my own house. Another time, I felt it as I was starting up again.

Around mile 10, the “bonk” began working on me. There were several suspects to blame for my bonking. First off, I could blame my light breakfast. I have not had much of an appetite before my long runs during this training season. Secondly, I only had two packets of Hammer Gel with me. Taking into account my light breakfast, three gels would have allowed more frequent fuel replacements. Rather than water, or Gatorade, I was trying out Perpetuem. Given all of the other factors, I cannot tell whether it had a positive or negative effect on my during this run. I can say that having it, gave me a false sense of security fuel-wise. The final suspect for my bonking was my lack of exercise during the past two weeks. This is nothing that I would change; my knee needed time to recover.

Needless to say, I was not interested in doubling back on the trail when my mileage came up short. I decided that a 14 mile run would be adequate and, if I felt that 16 miles was required, I would do a short run later in the day. This proved to be a wise choice as my stomach began cramping with gas pains and I was beat. I collected up YaYa (who had a fabulous time with Wendy’s son), and headed home for some post-run pampering which included a nice long nap.

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