Kara Sevda

Well, today was interesting. Another late morning with Aileen, so we didn't get out of the house until around noon. I was planning to run on the American River Bike Trail on the west side of Lake Natomas today while Aileen did some work at Starbucks. Post-run we'd swing by the donut shop nearby and have some donuts and coffee.

So, we're driving down Auburn-Folsom road, and we're at the part where it's an 8-10% gradient downhill and pretty windy. Remember, it's been raining for the last 3 days, non-stop. So what happens? The car in front of us - a little white Toyota Corolla type thing - starts fishtailing and, as if in slow motion, starts spinning and sliding across the road. Holy. Shit. It continues to slide across the road, more or less backwards, and ends up rolling backwards into a ditch along the side of the road. Holy. Shit. Again. Aileen and I look at each other in disbelief, and I pull over. The driver is in hysterics when I get to the car - understandably so - but is completely uninjured. The car, for that matter, looks as if it got off without a scratch, too.

I end up calling the girl's boyfriend, who works at a bike shop. She actually works at the bike shop in Auburn, so I try to keep her mind busy with talk of cycling while we wait. It's raining, cold, and I'm in a water-resistant (not water-proof) jacket and running shorts. After about 30min, I'm pretty damn soaked to the bone and freezing, but I told her I'd stick around. The more I survey the scene, the luckier she becomes. A hundred yards farther and she would've gone into a much steeper ditch with plenty of big trees. A hundred yards earlier and she probably would've gone up the side of this little driveway and could've flipped the car. She really hit the ditch perfectly, sliding into the shallowest part of it at the least sharp angle.

Around 1, her boyfriend shows up and we head to Folsom.
After something like that, a 90min run is kind of a weird thing to do, so it felt appropriately weird, but easy and comfortable. Got in 10.9 miles for an 8:16 average pace and never felt like I was working.
The donut shop was closed, so we got a bagel and some muffins. A good substitute.

Unavoidable off day tomorrow, as I have a Saturday class again, so I'll do my 45min recovery run on Sunday morning with Aileen. Not gonna be a happy day, since she's leaving in the afternoon.

Sorry about Aileen leaving tomorrow... but major kudos to both of you for stopping to help that young lady who ended up in the ditch. Not everybody would have done it, you know, and I'm sure she's glad you did.

You two are and in my book.

Mark B wrote:Sorry about Aileen leaving tomorrow... but major kudos to both of you for stopping to help that young lady who ended up in the ditch. Not everybody would have done it, you know, and I'm sure she's glad you did.

You two are and in my book.

+1

Thanks guys. It actually shocked me that even in friendly northern California (especially Auburn!) only 2 people stopped in the 30-45min we waited. And 1 of them stopped because he ran out of gas.

---

Yesterday I had one of those all-day classes, so that was a no-run day for me. Class was, fortunately, not too much of a drag. Came home and threw most of the vegetables in my fridge into a pan and made a hearty tomato sauce to couple with some pasta and red wine for Aileen and my last dinner together here. It was a nice dinner. Funny how much I've been loving Auburn this week, as she's here, and how I'll be moving sometime in the next 2 weeks now.

My buddy had a St. Patty's Day party, so we headed over there for frivolity and other hoodlum activity. Highlights of the night include:
1. The neighbor coming over at 10pm to tell us her 14 year old son was asleep and could we please keep it down. 10pm, Saturday, St. Patty's Day, 14yo son. Seriously?
2. My buddy's wife is part of a capoeira group in Sacramento, so there was an impromptu roda after everyone was good and buzzed. I played for the first time in about two years, and it went reasonably well. Then again, I wasn't ever drunk and only had a buzz for maybe 30min the entire night, so I had an advantage.
3. Shortbread cookies. 'Nuff said.

Semi-lazy morning (again) today capped off with a 50min run - long run for Aileen, shake-out run for me. We stuck together most of the time, with me going ahead then doubling back from time to time, but not often enough to make it seem like I was being a dick. We both came within about 15ft of a large doe, and we ended the run with some hill sprints so I could teach her how to do them and what they're for.

My peak period starts tomorrow with an 8-9mi GA run. Tuesday will be the longest run of this cycle: 20-22mi, 3-3.5hr. Whatever I feel up for, really. I have the confidence that I can still run 26.2, but I think I want to go on the longer side of this one just because I've been really itching to do a nice, long run lately.

But more immediately, Aileen leaves tonight. Yes, I see her in about 4 weeks in Boston, but still... not fun.

John Kilpatrick wrote:

Mark B wrote:Sorry about Aileen leaving tomorrow... but major kudos to both of you for stopping to help that young lady who ended up in the ditch. Not everybody would have done it, you know, and I'm sure she's glad you did.

You two are and in my book.

+1

Ditto!!!! and I'm so glad you stopped to help - keeps my faith in youth

I guess I could understand how people might drive by if they didn't see it happen or if it looked like the situation was under control, but I would certainly hope that anyone in my position - right behind her when it happened - would stop. I'm going to just pretend that everyone would, so my rose-colored glasses don't get fogged up.

---

Aileen left. We had a nice emotional moment in the apartment, shared our favorite memories of it (since this trip was her last time visiting it), and shed some tears before heading to the airport. The goodbye itself was super quick, as the tram for her terminal showed up right as we got there and we were a little late.

I tried to keep my mind busy by heading to my brother's house (my future house!) for dinner, brother time, and The Walking Dead finale. It sort of worked, but I just felt kind of numb and down about it all.

This morning, I'm trying to ride the high of the last 10 days and channel it, as well as whatever else comes along, into my peak over the next two weeks. I want to save it all - the happiness, the sadness, the stress - for the running and keep my focus on what I need to accomplish from now until next Saturday. I don't think that will be too much of a problem, as my next 4 weeks are nicely divided between school, my ACTUAL spring break, and last-minute Boston preparations. I do feel badly for Aileen, though, as she has little to look forward to back in DC. Her text upon landing said it didn't feel right being back. I have to agree.

---

Yes, I did some running today, too. Went by distance today - 9 miles - as a GA run. 2mi warm-up, reasonably quick at 8:1x pace, followed by 7mi @ 7:38. Pretty nice clip for a GA run, and on rolling terrain the entire time, so I'm feeling good about this. A little residual soreness from the capoeira at the party - plus the skinned knee from sliding across a hardwood floor on my stomach... don't ask (or do, it's a funny story!) - but nothing major.

I've got my longest run of the cycle tomorrow. Hoping to get in 22 miles in 3hr15min, with a few BIG hills, but I'll be satisfied with 20mi or 3hr, too. We'll see what happens.

Good byes are tough. No doubt about it. My son is a soldier (his girlfriend is here), my daughter is dating a soldier. Lot's of goodbyes around here. But thankfully, there are always the hellos to look forward to!

Ok, I'll ask, spill about the tummy slide on the hardwood floor.

Kathy - Oof, military goodbyes would be even harder. I can't imagine that. I think I'd rather be the one leaving than the one staying behind, though.

The belly slide was a somewhat impromptu decision - okay, it was completely random and sudden - because one of my friends at the party was wearing a kilt. He first had his jeans on under it, which we all told him was very lame and disrespectful to my Scottish heritage (yes I'm Scottish, no I didn't really care), so next thing I knew, it was just a kilt and hairy legs. I didn't believe that he'd lost his underwear, too, so I took it upon myself to do a surprise underwear check... Meaning slide across the room on my stomach, roll over when I got under him, and... Shit. He took off his underwear, too.

I have to admit, I'm now wondering just how terrified I've made Michele about her daughter's forthcoming departure.

---

Giggles aside... Today hurt. A lot. Not sure what happened, but I think it must've been a combination of factors to make this run as painful as it was. The best way to describe it, I think, is a three-hour-roller-coaster, in every sense of the word. The elevation of the course itself, my physical, mental, and emotional states... Whew, it was tough, and it definitely shook my confidence.

Let's start at the beginning...

The plan was 22.5mi in 3hr15min (goal finishing time). To do this, I'd do 5mi @ MP+20%, 12.5mi @ MP+15%, and 5mi @ MP+10%. That actually gets me done a little bit faster, I think, but it was close enough. Because of the fact that the first 5mi were considerably downhill and the last 5mi would be considerably uphill, I figured if I ran a pretty straight pace of MP+15%, the effort with the hills would be equivalent to the "planned" paces. Basically, that meant running 8:30-8:35s for the entire run. Easy enough.

The first 5mi were indeed easy enough. Other than being a bit nervous about this run - I wasn't able to mentally break it down into sections, as I'm still not familiar enough with the roads up here to really know how to set waypoints - I was cruising along fine. This section included a long descent (~1.5mi, 400' loss) and a net loss of 600'. At mile 5, I ate half a granola bar.

I stopped at mile 6 for a quick pee break and to refill my water bottle - I've had one of those ones with the hand strap forever, and have never used it until today... yes, I tried something new on the longest run of my training cycle - and carried on. I expected the hills that came next. I'd run this part of the course before (albeit in reverse) so I knew what was coming. 200' more loss in the next mile, but most of it is 6-8% decline with false flats between. Then close to a mile back up. This is where the quads started to talk to me. At mile 8. Of 22.5. Shit.

I didn't expect the hills that came next, and they were a huge mental blow. I was already starting to bonk as I hit them, and next few miles of rollers did their best to destroy my morale. It kind of worked. My mood and ability to hold pace started yo-yoing here, and it didn't get better until I finished that first granola bar. But even then, slight mood lift was tentative, and any sort of incline shook it.

By the time I got back to the bottom of the big hill, I was feeling pretty decent again, having just knocked off some 8:35s on a long gradual uphill. And as I went out for the little out-and-back before starting up the big hill, bonkiness again hit and I seriously wondered how I was going to finish this run. I still had close to 10 miles to go. Ugh.

So I tried to suck it up and pick up my turnover. It kind of worked. At mile 14, I ate half of a second granola bar and kept on plugging along. The water bottle was getting annoying as shit around this point, despite being only a third full. I got to the turnaround of the out-and-back, the bit of food having lifted my spirits once again, and I was able to plug back up the small hill and start rolling down the other side. Things got slightly easier, though I was still bonking and starving.

The one good thing about all of this up to this point is that I was able to stay focused enough to know that I was bonking, that my moodiness and increasing despair - seriously, it was like the world was ending - were just a symptom of low blood sugar, and as soon as I got some food at home I'd feel fine. So I was able to mentally push further into the red and stave off the desire to just throw in the towel and walk.

Going up the big hill was as bad as I thought it was going to be, but at the same time good. It hurt, a lot, but I didn't blow up and kept a pretty decent average pace of 8:56. I was in my last 5 miles now, so I was pushing a bit harder than before, now somewhere around GA effort (but MP mental strain). I decided to torture myself more by adding another 100' hill at the top of this one followed by a big, steep descent and a final climb.

Something clicked during this section, probably the realization that I had a mere 2 miles left, and I finally got my whining brain to shut up. I saw what appeared to be an ultra-runner a ways ahead coming into the final climb, so I just focused on catching him, which I did. As soon as we fell in stride together, we pushed the pace to an even 8:00 (he was running ~9s before, I was running 8:30s to catch him) and chatted about what we were training for. He was doing his last back-to-back long run for the AR50 in 3 weeks. I kind of wish I'd caught his name so I could see how he does, but really, I didn't give a shit by that point. I had less than half a mile left.

As soon as I hit 22.5mi, I decelerated to a very achingly slow walk and trudged into my apartment. Then fell on the floor and lay there for about 5 minutes to catch my breath. Then I made a huge stack of pancakes and ate them faster than you'd believe.

Final stats: 22.53mi, 3hr10min30sec, average pace 8:27, 8:20 NGP.
First 5mi: 8:27 average pace, 9:26 NGP.
Next 12.5mi: 8:29 average pace, 8:15 NGP.
Last 5mi: 8:26 average pace, 7:35 NGP.
Total elevation gain/loss: 1975'.



A last note: while running this, I kept thinking about how easy it was for me to do this run the last time I did it (just under a year ago). I remember the last 20mi w/ 10@MP being really hard, but the 22.5mi was cake. Just a long run. I'm glad that when I looked back at my log from last year, I found this as the commentary for that run: "This one hurt, like a bitch." Okay, good. Also, the average pace for that one was 8:21, 8:14 NGP. And it only had 650' gain/loss. This makes me feel better.

And now, I'm going to sleep.

Nice run, Mike. It would be cool if you did the marathon in that time as well.

I'm glad I'll be in Ohio and not Massachusetts. Nice run, Mike. I've got my last real long run on the schedule for Friday - 22 as well!

Thanks guys. John, I think that time is a bit aggressive. I'm going for 3:15 as a "perfect conditions" race. 3:20 is back-up goal.

---

45min recovery today. Man was I creaky. Just went straight from bed to the roads, since I wasn't at all hungry and was surprisingly wide awake. Especially surprising considering how shitty I slept.

Gotta admit I'm a bit shaken after yesterday's run. Yeah, I got it done, but it was pretty grueling. And still hurts. Trying to push that out of mind and just focus on what I've got left this week: a tempo and a sorta-long.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Thanks guys. John, I think that time is a bit aggressive. I'm going for 3:15 as a "perfect conditions" race. 3:20 is back-up goal.

---

45min recovery today. Man was I creaky. Just went straight from bed to the roads, since I wasn't at all hungry and was surprisingly wide awake. Especially surprising considering how shitty I slept.

Gotta admit I'm a bit shaken after yesterday's run. Yeah, I got it done, but it was pretty grueling. And still hurts. Trying to push that out of mind and just focus on what I've got left this week: a tempo and a sorta-long.

Um, it was 22.5 miles. It's not supposed to be easy and if you didn't feel a little beat up from it, especially with that amount of elevation change, I'd be calling you names because I was jealous.

That IS a funny story! About the belly slide, I mean.

The story of the 22.5 mile run isn't so funny, but very impressive! Way to get it done!

Great, tough workout, Mike.

You kilt it!

Oh wait...

Kidding aside, the challenges you threw at yourself on that 22.5-miler will pay dividends for you on race day. Enjoy the aches and pains - you earned them.

Jim - Good point. I guess I got caught up thinking about how I used to be doing 20 mile runs 3x/week in the fall... I've forgotten what it feels like to have a run that really pushes the bar and makes me hurt. Slightly more encouraged, now.

Kathy - Glad you liked it

Mark - That's what I'm hoping. Every run up to this point has gone off without a hitch, my tempo and MP runs have been really good... Fingers crossed.

In other news, walking hurts. My quads are sore. I can only imagine how shredded the muscles would be under a microscope. Gonna see how tomorrow's warm-up feels; if I'm still this sore, tempo and MP will be combined on Friday. If I feel okay, tempo goes tomorrow, MP Friday.

Ha - I'm with Jim on this one. If it didn't hurt then something is wrong. You are young, but still... That is sure a good type of hurt though, satisfying because you just nailed a good long run. Carry on my man!

Mike, I wouldn't worry too much over that 22+M. One, it's 22+M so it should be a bit uncomfortable and not easy. Second, its one run. Forget it and move on. Your training has been looking good. You're almost there.

Carrying on, as per your suggestions. Thanks for the dose of "chill the fuck out," all.

I like tempo runs. Actually, let me rephrase that. I like progressive tempo runs, and I love the high afterward when tacking on 10min of MP feels like a jog.

As I was warming up today, I guessed my legs were feeling around 75% recovered, and other than being a little less controlled on descents, I didn't notice any real form issues. Okay, so I'll just focus more on using my core when running down hills. But I decided that this tempo was going to happen. Even though it was in the mid-50s with 75% humidity. Gross. What happened to low-40s, low-humidity running? I miss winter.

After 20min, went into 5x 5min (no recovery between intervals) progressively more difficult: GA, MP, cruise, LT, 10k effort levels. Since the course was so hilly, actual paces are kind of all over the place, but keeping a steady effort was the goal. I probably pushed a little on the uphills and was unable to keep my turnover high enough on the downhills to actually be maintaining an even effort level, but close enough, right? Finished off the "work" portion with 10min of MP effort immediately following the 10k interval.

No leg issues other than my quads refusing to work much harder during the last 5min, and after the run I'm going to say my legs are probably closer to 85% recovered.

Looking like I'll be just shy of 65 miles this week.

You are going to have an awesome race at Boston...your training continues to look fantastic!

Nice run, Mike. If it makes you feel better, I ran 21 this morning, and it was very hard - so hard that I might have to take a nap before I play a makeup tennis match tonight.

Thanks Kathy!

Michele - I think I just lost my connection with reality on Tuesday, started thinking about the "good old days" when I was running 20+ mile runs 3x/week. I also built into that for 6 months or so, but I tend to forget the work behind it. And it makes me feel slightly better than other people struggle with long runs this close to race day (though it doesn't make me happy that other people struggle... I'm at odds with myself!).

---

Okay, this also made me feel good. Very close followers (stalkers) of my blog and posts will remember that I ran the following 3 "long" runs during my last training cycle: 22.5mi in goal time, 15mi w/ 2x5mi@MP (1mi recovery, 2mi up and down), and 20mi w/ last 10mi@MP. You'll also know that I was nervous about the 15mi as my midweek sorta-long due to having been injured and not wanting to crash my peak too hard. So I was asking if it's better to just combine my tempo (yesterday) with the MP planned for today and do 2x4mi, first interval tempo, second interval MP.

I started today's run thinking 2mi up, 4mi MP (effort, since it was hilly), 1mi easy, 4mi MP (again, effort), 1mi down. Started the first MP interval and didn't quite have the turnover I wanted, and since it was on a downhill, I was doing a bit of slappy-feet, but nothing too bad. I worked to bring my form around and pick up my feet a bit more, and found a semi-comfortable groove. Halfway through, I was feeling pretty good, staring at a long, gradual hill, so I pushed just a little bit on the hill. I was averaging a 7:09 pace so I wanted it to even out somewhere around the top of the hill. Well, I finished the interval at that pace, but with a net descent of 175' (100' up, 275' down), that's an NGP of 7:25. MP on the nose.

I wasn't too tired at all, but I was wondering how much I'd thrashed my quads bombing the descents at ~6:30-6:45 pace. After a seemingly very quick mile (8:25 has never felt so short!), I started round 2, curious what it'd bring. When I hit a short flat stretch and saw I was running a sub-7 pace, I knew it was going to be a good one, but I also knew there was a big hill coming between miles 2-3. I held a little bit in the tank and waited. The hill itself was actually 1.5mi with 215' gain and 2-3 false flats. Managed to average a 7:21 pace up it (this was tempo effort) and chug down the other side. I was feeling damn good, so I started really narrowing my pace into 10k effort and finished the interval on a slight incline at 6:30 pace. Overall average there 7:07, but due to the elevation gain (net 145'), that's an NGP of 6:52.

The last mile was a breeze, and I finished the 12 in just over 1hr30min. Feeling damn good right now, and my confidence is being restored.

EDIT: I always forget the important details when I write these posts. Here are the important details: I got new shoes last night, since my Ghost 3s were giving me problems and needed to be retired. Got the 4s to go with my current pair, but got them in red (way better than that blue/green nonsense!). So I wore them today. Yep, found which pair I'm wearing for the race.

45min easy/GA... Well, that was the average pace. It was probably more like recovery for warm-up, GA/MP for the middle, recovery/easy for the end. Still, 5.55mi and it felt good.

30min recovery this afternoon.

My apartment is about 1/2 packed. Weird.

Looking great, Mike. I can't wait for taper madness to kick in for real. Your blog promises a wild ride.

Also, I would not think back too much on those weeks of ultra-long runs you did a while back. As you recall, it burned you out.

Mark - Funny you should mention taper madness... I was texting Aileen yesterday and had said "I wonder if I'll get taper madness this time around..." Then I thought about running a marathon and my legs flooded with adrenaline.

---

Did the 30min, but my body's forgotten how to do doubles. Or maybe I've forgotten how to fuel for them. The last 5-10min weren't exactly fun, but at 3.55mi total, not much of a mental strain to harden up and get home.

That brings me to juuuuuust shy of 66mi for the week, just shy of 9hr (I'd hit 66mi if I had hit 9hr), and a total TSS (training stress score; takes into account length AND intensity as compared to LT pace to give you a figure for your total training load) of 708. That number is somewhat insignificant, on its own, but legs compare it to OC Marathon's peak week TSS, just for fun: 703.4. Granted, I was in better shape then so my paces were faster (I did 68.83mi in 9hr14min then), the equivalent TSS value is a comforting figure.

Also, I'll be using that to help me figure out how much to run during my taper, since my build up has been shortened so much. Shooting for around 660 next week with a slight bump in overall intensity throughout the week.

---

I move tomorrow morning! Well, the essentials. I'll be back Tuesday to move the rest of the stuff before my run (there's a warm-up for ya...) and then again late in the week to do a final walkthrough and turn in my keys. But for all intents and purposes, as tonight is my last night here... I'm moving tomorrow!

Mike, you crack me the hell up. I have no idea what you are talking about half the time when it comes to your number crunching, but I do know you are running awesome here lately and you just had a monster of a week! Keep it up and good going! Oh, and if you didn't get taper madness prior to running Boston I would want to check your pulse!