destressing

The sun salutations haven't been happening, but I'll have more room soon. Everything else is going well. I didn't touch the computer after coming home from the worst shift ever. LOL. It was busy in a dull way, if that makes sense. That's the worst kind of busy. No adrenaline, just slogging.

I still haven't resumed running. My legs feel fine and I'm starting to miss it; both are good signs that my break is drawing to a close. I work overtime tomorrow and Tuesday, so Wednesday will probably be the big day.

Friday

Update on the destressing....

Deep breathing--I was good on Thurs, and then today I had to get up and out of the house pre-dawn because one of my clients had to go to the hospital early for tests. That melted my newly minted schedule pretty nicely. I got about 2 minutes in before I started rushing around. lol

Sun salutations--haven't been happening. Probably because I gave up my room for guests, and the one I'm in now doesn't have room for yoga and the dog crate. Not that he spends a lot of time in it, but it had to go somewhere.

Computer cutoff--actually seems to click with me. It helps me prioritize my time better and get to sleep sooner. However, the big test will be tomorrow, after the late shift, when I habitually crawl through the front door at whatever after 2300 and instantly get sucked to the keyboard. Sometimes even before changing out of scrubs. oh, the shame, the desperation. lol

And I got a school assignment and a mess of US Immigration paperwork mailed off today, which has reduced my stress levels a LOT already. And, most importantly, in roughly three weeks, we'll be over the halfway point of this deployment. I'll still be stressed, but then I'll start to feel better and better as the time remaining diminishes. can't wait! phew!

ok, what else...I ran to that pre-dawn job today, lol, and things felt fine. I'll probably resume with the club on Wednesday, just an easy run. Mostly, though, I've been walking. The dog needs walking and I've been doing errands besides.

Once the guests leave (not that it's not been cool having them, just a little squished), I'll ramp up the resistance exercises. I'll probably do the same regimen I did last spring.

At any rate, I think this crappy marathon result has actually been a positive experience in some ways. A good wake up call, at least. How do I want to live my life? And what do I need to get out of running? Not 'want'--that's too great a luxury right now, apparently. And why did I want to qualify for Boston? the challenge, yes, which means I still have it. The experience of actually going to Boston? I'm not sure. I waver about this. It would be ultra-ultra-cool on one hand, but maybe too emotional/stirring for me on the other. Not to mention crowded and expensive. I still want to go, but maybe I want it too much on other people's terms, and not so much on my own--I want it mainly out of pride. I still want it, but I can hopefully rest a little more easy about it, and concentrate rather on having a good marathon experience or two while minimizing stress.

The army marches on its stomach

Don't I know it!
In short, the best running was done by my bowels; I crashed at mile 14 or 15, pushed until mile 20, but in vain, and then drank some beer, helped a collapsed runner, and finished the thing in 3:56.

I will cut and paste my longer report soon, but I'm already (mostly) over the disappointment and plotting my next move.

I will have to somehow rein in my parasympathetic system because I am stressed in general. I hadn't noticed, really, and then the race tipped me over the edge. It didn't feel much different than the pre-race buzz of shorter races, but the distance is too long for the resulting diminished glycogen. However, this isn't just about me getting worked up consciously about the race, but more about minimizing daily stress (kind of hard with a deployed husband, lol) and being more strict with my daily routine, perhaps diet, and definitely sleep. This might also involve some large-scale changes as regular yoga/deep breathing, minimizing procrastination, etc, etc.

And this isn't just about running a better marathon. As sucky as it was, it is good that I had that sort of canary chirp to realize that I don't quite have my act together and that it may, as it has in the past, slam me hard.

So, I'll start off small. One sun salutation and 5 minutes of deep breathing in the morning, just to start me off right. No computer or homework, except for studying, after 10:00 pm, especially not late after the evening shift. LOL

That's it for now.

About one more week off running, and more stretching/yin yoga. Then easy jogging for December, gradually building mileage back up. Then, speedwork starting next year, and then the Hypo 1/2. And then I'm going to do an experimental marathon--the Winterman, here in February. It starts at the decent hour of 9 am, and consists of loops. I'll leave the Garmin at home and concentrate on being mellow and relaxed. And then there's the Ottawa full in May, which might be too hot, but that's a perfect scenario for, again, having lower expectations and less stress. It would be nice to try an ultra, too, but I haven't started looking.

So, a plan.
And I'm getting pretty close to that computer cut-off, and I have to order a few things online (including signing up for Winterman) and finish my bio assignment.

Tues? Wed?

Somebody was a total genius and worked until 11 pm the night before taking a 6:30 am train....
Usually I stay up this late after that shift, but get up later...it's going to hurt in a few hours. But then I'll conk out on the train. That's the whole point of taking the train. I'm incapable of getting enough sleep, but I sleep a LOT on trains. lol

At any rate, today's hour-long run didn't happen. Way too much going on--didn't get much time between jobs, even. Fortunately, I was jogging a lot between things, so still managed to cover some miles. And then there was more than usual running up and down stairs at my evening job. At least a few false alarms with the call bells, and plenty of pulling for stupid things (ie, my favourite: somebody wanted to know if their pjs felt wet. They weren't sure. Well, if you don't feel that they're wet, be it because they are dry or because you lack the necessary sensory receptors, then you'll be able to sleep in them, no prob! (they weren't wet) LOL)

I'm wired!

I had a point, and I forgot.

Anyway, I'm finished packing, and I was trying to find old clothes that I wouldn't mind discarding at the start. Well, in the past five years, I've lived in 11 different houses/apartments/etc. Anything I wouldn't mind discarding has long been discarded. And then I thought, hey, what if I got some old pjs? Unfortunately, I don't have any, but that would be pretty funny. And then I thought about my scrubs, which would be even funnier if I happened to start running in them. lol

Oh, yeah--my point--I nearly did something stupid. It's highly recommended, if not obligatory, for me to get a flu shot. One of my superiors was going to give me one then and there, and then I remembered that it might drain me for the next few days...duh. So I asked for a postponement, saying that I had a busy trip ahead of me. That would have been classic though, after all this training, to get a flu shot a few days before the race.

Rest day

I didn't get enough sleep again...I'm just too wound up over this deployment. oh, well!
Fortunately, I didn't have to work much this morning, and that's over and done with. Now I'm back at home, and will nap, catch up on schoolwork, and start preparing for my trip down south. Usually I would just pack the day before, lol, but I'll be working tomorrow evening, and I want to make sure I collect all the required paperwork. I shouldn't have any problems crossing the border, but my greencard/deployed husband situation is a little unique. THey're so worried about greencard marriages, but here I am, clearly having married the man not the country, and yet they have made things a little difficult for me too because I don't want to live alone in the States while he's overseas. Anyway, I'd bent over and paid the $300ish for their travel permit/rip-off, and if that doesn't get me back in, I'm going to cry theatrically LOL. It should go ok unless I get the agent who's having a crappy day.

starting to get superstitious

Well, I've largely escaped taper madness, I think, but now I'm starting to get anxious. I have a tendency to get injured in the house. Nothing major, just stuff like sliding around a corner too sharply and tweaking a knee...tapering gives me more energy and since I'm fundamentally a fast-twitch person, that means sprinting in the house, up the stairs, down the hall, etc, etc.

So I'll be treading very carefully for the next week.

I'm also getting wary because training has gone well....too well, perhaps, and I'm waiting for the karmic boom to drop. I pushed things hard, and didn't get injured. I got sick this week, but that was fine, and I still managed to do a good speed workout, plus a sort of marathon-pace 10 miler today.

Ah, yes, the traditional 10-miler the week before the big day. I've done this a couple of times, I think. Ideally, it's supposed to be an MP run, but I didn't manage that before, mainly because the first time, I didn't train properly, the 2nd time, I didn't know what my MP would be, anyway, and the third time, training had not gone well and it had been a horrible run even at a normal easy run pace.

Today, I didn't feel that peppy because I was working late last night and didn't get quite enough sleep, and I didn't have much time to eat and drink beforehand and jogged over holding breakfast (a banana). My hopes weren't high and it wasn't supposed to be an MP run anyway. My legs were a bit sluggish at the start, but being with two excellent running mates livened up the pace a little...we were all kind of tapped into the same vibe, I guess, and it was decent running weather. I saw that mile two was 8:33 and I was like, hey, if some MP happens, great.

Well, none happened, really, because I just can't run at MP...except on average. Yes, my average pace for the 10 miler turned out to be just a shade faster than what I need to qualify for Boston, like fractions of a second per mile. There were a few slower miles, at the beginning and going up and across the locks, mainly, but also some easy cruising miles at below MP. This is no surprise--I've noticed during the other MP workouts that my body has chosen its own MP pace, at almost 30 seconds per mile slower than my 1/2 marathon pace, so nothing extravagant. I kept my breathing at 4-2, which is easier than what my 1/2 marathon was at. It was still an easy effort, but on the edge.

So, a big confidence boost. I hit MP pace (on average, lol), while going on an 'easy' run! Not too shabby, especially since I had started off slowly and still managed to make up time. So, if the first 2 or 3 miles at the start are 9:00ish/mile, I don't have to panic right away. I can relax. There's time to fix it.

I would like to lock into the 8:26/mile I need at least for the first half, to lessen the risk of crashing, but it's also nice to know that this 8:08-8:15 pace that I've been favouring is so comfortable. I just have to get it into my head that the first while will really just be a warm up, and that it shouldn't feel like much work until at least mile 16 or so. I still remember my last full, how eerily easy sub 8 miles were for the first 1/2...they kept slipping in. I was barely breathing. But I paid for them later.

This time, I'll try to be smarter.

Just a few more runs to go, an hour-ish at slightly above MP pace, some intervals at MP pace, and then a shorter one to loosen up, if necessary. A great thing about training with the group has been the heightened expectation. I've been told that I WILL qualify, there's no doubt about it. I have to. That'll make it easier to dig deeper near the end of the race.

Friday and Saturday

Well, today (Saturday), I didn't run at all. I was on my feet for most of an 8-hr shift, though.

Friday involved much more running, to work, then 6ish miles with the dog, then to meet up with friends, a run with them, and a run back...total was about 12.47 miles. Just easy running, no speedwork. The last bit of speedwork I have will be a couple of 2K intervals at race pace, I believe.

thursday

I jogged a couple of miles today, about...just the usual going to and fro biz. I sometimes find it easier to jog lightly than walk, and since I'm often late, I usually end up trotting. Sometimes I count this, sometimes not, but I'm counting it now because that'll be most of my running this week. lol.

But, as bullcrap as this mileage is, it's really good in a way. When I run for just 5-10 minutes at a time, I can really focus on form throughout. There have been a few issues that I've been working on, and lately it seems that things have become more fluid. Plus, the little stints are a good reminder to my body of what it needs to do, and a good way to loosen up, without tiring it out.

I went to yin yoga too....it's been a while since I've gone to a class, so it was good to go and loosen up a little.

I can't believe that in less than a week I'll be on a train to Philly! wow!

ok, time for some confidence boosting...over the course of this training, I've done 3 progression runs in the 18-22ish mile range.

First one, 19 miles, last 12ish at an average pace of 8:21/mile.
Next one, 22 miles, last 9 at an average pace of 8:19/mile
Last one, 18-19 miles, last 8ish at an average pace of 8:01/mile. yes, a little excessive!

All I have to do is rest and eat properly, not do something stupid in my house (where I seem to get injured most! not running!) and not eat anything stupid the night before. I miss popcorn, but I've been good in avoiding it these past few weeks. I had a brush with black pepper the night before the last progression run, actually, which made it an even better simulation of post-wall running. I will eat plain naked noodles the night before the marathon, if necessary. Or maybe bananas washed down with Ovaltine. I don't care! I really don't want stomach probs on race day again. I imagine I'll be shoving down all sorts of foul and greasy crap food after the race...can hold out until then....

on to homework!

speedwork!

Well, when I taper, I taper! lol
I've run about 8 miles this week so far...that's less than what I was doing per day. oh, well! It did me good, I think, to rest up and just jog one or two miles, like I usually do in the course of a day, just getting around.

And I was well-rested for speedwork tonight. it was 6-8 X 800M, and I decided to be content with 6. My Garmin ran out of juice, but my companion said that our repeats were 3:18-19ish, except for the last one: 3:13. It felt fine and not too hard; we were supposed to go at 10K pace, but I was going faster, I think--I don't have a 10K pace. I have a 5K and then suffer pace. Still, I wasn't killing myself over them or even close to lactic acid build-up--I was going at what felt like tempo run effort, my tempo runs being in the 'comfortably hard' range for 20 min or so--so they were fine.

I vaguely remember doing a similar workout before my last marathon--oh, here it is, about a month before the race:

warm up 1/2 mile, then 6X800 (3:16, 3:11, 3:19, 3:19, 3:22, 3:24). Pacing poor, but great temps

I remember those repeats being considerably harder than the ones I did tonight, pretty much VO2max effort, and they were on a flat track, not slightly up and down on the Hill like tonight. Pacing was more consistent this time, too: we were varying within just a few seconds, until the last repeat.

So, yep, I'm pretty confident that I'll at least PB on this marathon. :) knock wood!

extra extra tapering

I jogged about 1.5 miles today, just commuting. I ran to work and then from the Remembrance Day ceremony downtown. I had dressed lightly, just enough to jog to/from work, but I wanted to go to the ceremony. It got a little cold, my feet especially, but that's nothing compared to what others have sacrificed.

Anyway, I do feel better now, especially since I just finished my assignment. woohoo! On to the next one...

Tomorrow will definitely involve running, perhaps with the dog, definitely speedwork in the evening. Last speedwork session!

Extra tapering

Because I'm sick! So it was just a fair bit of walking (to/from work, errands, with the dog) today. And yoga, maybe later. At any rate, the timing of this illness is very good. My body is talking to me: rest! This is when I have to rest! Supposedly, I'm supposed to run about 50 miles this week, according to my coach's taper formula, as derived from my peak mileage, but that's not going to happen, and maybe that's for the best. My body's like 'Ok, you tore me out of my lazy, self-preservation zone, and that actually worked out--but now you listen to me while I fix this mess!'

I'm plowing through a chemistry assignment right now, talk about a steep learning curve with that course. it's been eons since I've done chemistry, and I've gnashed my teeth over it, but lately it's starting to gel together. I can't make a corny pun out of that because I've just covered aqueous reactions so far, but hey~

(actually, gels kind of remind me of a new restaurant opening here in Ottawa--Atelier--molecular gastronomy! I can't believe that we're getting a taste of this stuff here. I've been curious about it for a few years now, and was expecting to have to go to a major city or order a kit, so I'm pumped. It's $75 for a tasting menu, so I'm not sure when I can swing that, but I'll see. Maybe in December.)

And how does all this chemistry segue into running? via burning of fuel, that's how! watch this space. lol

But, yeah, between all these equations and this cold, plus the heat generated by my laptop, I think I'm running a fever.

Well, back to tapering! This cold couldn't have come at a better time. While I'm sitting on my arse and wrangling moles, all those tiny muscle tears sustained during the course of training are being repaired. Incidentally, I had a test which included actin and myosin filaments, but that doesn't quite abate my recent curiousity about muscle tears. Yeah, they're in the muscle, but that's so vague. The problem with all this science studying is that, more and more, I want to see just what is involved in various things, including muscle tears, and so I claw down to the smaller and smaller levels (ie, from the muscle to the fibres to the myofibrils and finally to the individual actin/myosin cross-bridges, which in turn gets me wondering about the molecules involved, but I'm not there yet), and getting closer to the atomic thus leads me to my usual quandary: so much space! How can space tear? ok, I'm being symplistic here, and possibly the tears just occur straight across myofibrils or whatever, totally tearing through my painful intricacies....ie, like I'm fussing over a particular rebar while the whole bridge is going down.

At any rate, part of my interest in muscle tears is due to the oft-repeated assurance that these are part of getting stronger. How? Yes, the muscle rebuilds itself more strongly...how? How does it get stronger? Thicker fibres? more of them?

Ok, I'll get through my assignment, get some sleep, and if this still matters to me after that, I'll look into it.

Running a fever can be so productive, but sometimes it makes me fixate on the wrong things.

At any rate, I'm tapering and mysteriously becoming stronger!

Sunday

No running today--I'll walk the dog and go to yoga. :)

---------------

Scrap going to yoga....I can't breathe out of one nostril. It's been like this since last night. It's better than both being blocked, but it's still kind of annoying, and I don't want to drip through a yoga class. I'll just do one of my yoga DVDs.

Anyway, ehhh, my brain's being fried by Chemistry but ultimately by this stupid, stupid deployment. Negativity alert!! It was like this last time too: the last month or two before the halfway point really began to crawl. Which made me think of relating it to race terms, using some sort of mental trick to get over this hurdle, lie thinking that 3K is just 'a mile and a bit' (one of my favourite tricks) or that a half marathon is just a warm up and then a ten-miler....well, nothing's working so far. At this point, it looks like the best way to wade through the rest of the suckage is to spend the next several weeks in an opium den.

But, way, could I actually be having TAPER NERVES?

I've really been looking forward to tapering. I've pushed things a bit with this training, but nothing bad has happened, knock wood, and after those umpteen 100+K weeks, I'm ready to not run as much, or shower as often. Honestly, if I lived in a culture where it would be permissible to whiff more, I'd probably knock out more 2-run days. But, relaxation aside, I suppose that the point of tapering is to coil that spring a little tighter, and thus I'm getting more worked up about the deployment lately.

lol

Saturday

It was a dark and stormy night...morning...not quite dark, either, but close enough. And I felt like crud. I am not getting enough sleep, no matter what I do. Having a deployed husband is just too much stress, and it's especially hard as it gets longer and longer and still not quite halfway through. Same thing happened last time. Anyway, I considered phoning my friend and cancelling, especially since I knew I could do the run on Sunday (today) with run club.

However, I also had to work last night, and since it's been at least a few weeks since I've slept in, I wanted to reserve Sunday morning for that.

So I got out of bed and jogged over.

What to wear when I know I'll be in soaked clothes for at least 2 hrs? I chafed last time this happened, so I figured a tank top under a long sleeved thing would be best--once I warmed up, I could take the long-sleeved thing off and thus not chafe. This worked. I was a little cold and should have brought a hat, but it was ok.

We ran 22 K in 1:59, which is decent, especially since it was a fast finish and, ironically, the last umpteen K were at my marathon pace and it felt good. I haven't managed to hit that yet, but somehow, yesterday, after we'd gradually picked it up for a bit, I felt into a good groove, and found out afterwards that it was around my MP to qualify. ok! So, in total, I ran just over 25 K. In miles, 15.67. It's gotten to the point where I see it's 'just' 25 K or whatever, and I don't bother bringing water or fluid. I ate a banana and drank some pop beforehand, put a gel in my pocket just in case (I didn't use it) and off I went, and that was fine. I'm a camel! Or amphibian in this case. I probably absorbed a least a litre through my skin. LOL

Then I napped, and then I went to work. I was pretty groggy, but got through ok. I wasn't the only one out of sorts there anyway. LOL

upper body workout

Today was an easy day. No run with the dog, just a walk. I forgot to keep track of the dog tally, but everyone was pretty much well behaved.

And then I jogged with some friends. I think I jogged about six miles in total.

And then I had the upper body workout of the year. Just one rep. My arms and chest are still sore. I had to pull my dog off a cat....I'd checked the backyard before letting him out, and it was clear, and then about five or so minutes after I'd let him out, I'd heard this big racket, so I run out. My dog and a cat are tussling. A vision of this cat getting disemboweled smacks me, so I haul my dog off and into the house. The mean ass cat sticks around and yowls and hisses at me when I try to get closer to assess its condition. I think it's fine, and the owners came running to collect it and to apologize. It had gotten out, and for some reason, it decided to go onto the deck where my dog was. It scratched up my dog pretty good; it looked to be starting to lose by the time I got there, but my dog didn't manage to bite it.

Now my dog's out of sorts. We disinfected his scratches so he should be fine, although his pride's probably wounded. he emptied his anal glands, too and smells now....he was pretty worked up.

I suspect we'll use the gentle leader on the next run, until I see how he reacts to other cats. Sucks, especially since it took him several months to be cool with cats after the last time he had a tussle with them: he didn't use to pay much heed to them, but then my husband brought him to his mom's house and her two 20-pounders pounced on him. These cats kill many things and once even cornered a possum. They whupped my dog well and he didn't forget. So we'll see how he is after this cat. I'm really surprised I managed to pull him away like that, and I don't think I could do it again. My arms are aching now. It was one of those lift-the-car-off-your-kid things. A good jolt of norepinephrine.

relaxation

Another balmy day.
I was a little stiff from yesterday but the dog cooperated by matching my sluglike pace, and I managed to loosen up. We jogged about 7.05 miles.

Dog tally--5 well behaved/well-managed dogs, 1 not (another small dog loose on the bike path).

taper!

It's about time!
Monday: 0.
Tues: 2ish miles, plus both jobs. I was training someone during the 2nd one, so it was about 9 hrs on my feet, and then I was revved up and could only get about 4-5 hrs of sleep again.
Wed: 16.21 miles, 8.12 with the dog in the morning, and 8.09 or whatever with speedwork in the evening.

What a nice day to run. I can't even complain that it was hot enough for me to smell gross...it was nice to be in short sleeves and shorts. The dog and I took it easy, and we were on the same wavelength too, which was even more relaxing. Plus, he didn't have to go poo at all, so the run was pretty much an unbroken stream of semi-consciousness. I thought mainly about loosening up, keeping things light, etc, etc.

And I thought about dogs. We passed at least 3 other dogs. I should start keeping track. One was loose and not responsive to voice commands--yeah, it was a small cute thing, all the more reason not to let it loose on a bike path with the spandex squad out in full zipping force! The owner said sorry but we just kept running before we could get bogged down by butt-sniffing and painful insincerity: "Oh, that's ok." It's not ok. I have seen just a handful of reliably voice-commanded dogs. My dog isn't one of them, either, which is why he stays on a leash when we're on paths. We're working on it, and sometimes he gets to run around with other dogs off-lead, but not just randomly. And I doubt I'll ever let him off-lead near traffic, even foot/bike traffic. It wouldn't be fair to everyone else.

Anyway, I've gotten into the habit of just shrugging and keeping going when we are slowed down by someone's disobedient dog, 90% of the time. Maybe that's rude but it irks me so much to have someone else's dog pull their way into our space when we're out running on one of the paths, and then to be dealt such an automatic airy 'sorry', like it happens all the time. Hmmmm....?
To the owner's credit, though, when we passed the dog again on our way back, it was on a leash. The leash still stretched much of the way across the path, but this is progress. :)

Oh, I might as well get this rant over with...it's been brewing for a few months: yes, Obedience School teaches you to heel your dog on your LEFT side, but when on paths and so forth, it really makes much more sense to put your dog on your RIGHT side. That way, when something interesting comes across on the opposite side of the path, your dog can be stopped by your leg/body, lol, instead of stretching the leash across the centre and potentially tripping someone. and, no, it's not too confusing for the dog to switch sides. Mine accepted it within minutes. Plus, most of the dogs on the paths aren't heeling properly to begin with, so there's no mold to break. Next week's rant: gentle leaders/Halti's don't really mix with flexi-leashes. That's combining a device that is supposed to stop pulling with a device that encourages it. Common sense, people!!!

Anyway, the 2nd dog was well behaved, the third was not. And we still had a good run.

Phew! I thought I'd left all the angst with the speedwork. It was 3000M repeats, but just 2 of them because we're tapering. oh, yeah! I was still in shorts and a tshirt, but it was starting to cool off, which was pretty refreshing. My stomach was acting up again, though....it's been touchy for the last few days, but started hurting a few hours before speedwork.

However, I did not crap my britches, and I think I've finally cracked this nut: my gut hurts due to diverted blood flow. This is not news. But what this means is that all this blood is going to my legs, because my body knows that something's cooking, and it needs to divert resources. And so it actually does! in short, stomach cramps are now a GOOD sign. WOW!

Because I nailed those repeats. They were too fast, but I got with a couple of faster people, and I knew I was running faster than I should, but I couldn't help myself. It was a good night to run. I just kept telling myself to stay light, stay straight, keep going. It helps that I've run several 2-mile time trials in the past: 3000M is pretty much the same clip. This was much less excrutiating than a time trial, but I still had that sort of rhythm on the brain.

Anyway, my repeats:
12:36
12:26

So, not the fastest I've run at that sort of distance, but what surprises me is how more reasonable that sort of pace feels.

In fact, it feels like I'm peaking, actually peaking. Knock wood! This is like before my 2nd marathon, when I ran a 3 mile 'tempo' run in 20:20ish...all of a sudden, there was more gas in the tank. Very encouraging, especially since the subsequent marathon was a considerable improvement over the first. I'll try to rein it in, though, so that I don't go flat. Just 2.5 more weeks to go...

The hay's in the barn and I tore down the house

Well, I wanted an excrutiating mental-building run, and I got one.
The excellent steak last night had pepper on it; I scraped it off but ate enough of it to (combined with nerves) give me the shits this morning. This is excellent prep for the marathon. I had gut issues in my first marathon, and my third/last one too. It'll probably happen in Philly again too, to some degree.

So, I figured I'd show up tired for the run...being drained was an excellent bonus.

My legs were heavy, but I jogged about 2 miles to the Canal, and then 8.4-5 miles or whatever with Gazelles #1 and #2. We did one loops, from Laurier to the locks back to Laurier. Then it came to the 2nd loop. This was supposed to be at marathon pace. I had given up on this earlier, and promised myself that, if I did the 2nd loop, I wouldn't have to run it any faster. However, when we came to it, Gazelle #1 pulled ahead and I couldn't bear the thought that I would still be running/suffering while he was done, so it was time to end it.

Marathon pace, 8:23ish a mile, continues to elude me. It's not one of my gears. We ran the first loop at about 9:00/mile, and the 2nd at about 8:00. I still don't know how I did it. 9:00/mile was bad enough. My legs were stiff, my stomach sore. I was also little low on sleep...these last couple of weeks have been somewhat insomniatic, so what happens is that I wake up with weird snippets of tunes in my head, and these loop over and over. I had some sort of 50's bass line going through my head this morning. I guess it helped me get into a rhythm, though, and I tried to keep things light and lazy and just follow Gazelle #1.

I don't know how long the 2nd loop took...not long, though! altogether, I ran about 30K in about 2:42:XX.

Sure am beat now! We went to the spa afterwards. :)

Nap time!

I had fun last night, even if it took me nearly an hour to wash off all the make-up. How does a junkie manage all that eyeliner? At any rate, it was fun being Amy Winehouse (without snorting anything) for an evening, even if the wig was a little hard to dance in. Got in at 1 am or so, a modest hour, and got nearly enough sleep, though didn't drink quite enough water. I wasn't hung over, though, just dehydrated. an easy fix.

Then I met up with friends and jogged 16.29 miles in total. A bit silly to do so the day before a long run, but now I'm going to spend the day eating and sleeping, pretty much, and this will allow me to bounce back quite a bit. If worse comes to worst, I will run a shorter run tomorrow and tackle the long-long run on Monday, but I really want to get the long-long run over and hit the spa with a clear and empty conscience. LOL