Running For My Life

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 12/19/2007
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:04:00.00
• Distance: 40 miles
• Average Speed: 37.5 mph

3 mile warm-up, 2×1200 @ 6:00 pace, 3 mile cool down

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/18/2007
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:01:36.00
• Distance: 8 miles
• Average Pace: 7:42.13/mile

Until recently, I had always been a treadmill runner for my weekday runs from October to April.  Why? I didn’t like to run in the dark; I didn’t like to run in the cold weather; I was afraid of getting bit by dogs (which has happened to me twice while running in the dark).  Let’s face it, it’s hard to drag yourself out of bed at 4:30 a.m. in the middle of winter and head outside into the 10-degree darkness and run 7 or 8 miles.

My views toward this changed a few months ago when I was talking to a young lady named Emily, who was telling me how she trained a few winters ago for the Boston Marathon by running outdoors in the cold darkness.  Her comments left a lasting impression on me; I thought,”If she can do it, so can I”.

So the last several weeks (as I have mentioned a few times in previous blog entries) I have been able to conquer my fear of running outside on those early winter mornings.  For example, this morning I woke up, saw that it was 9 degrees (3 below zero wind chill) and didn’t think twice about going outside for my run.  Never mind that there was ice and snow on the sides of the roads; never mind that it was pitch black outside.  Of course there is a limit to my madness; if the air temperature is below zero or there is a ton of ice on the streets, I will still use my treadmill.

It’s a silly thought, but at age 41 maybe I am finally getting tough!  I used to be a wimp about going outside in the winter, whether it was skiing or going to a football game or sledding with my kids.  But ever since I started forcing myself outside on these cold, dark mornings, I have found myself embracing the great outdoors in the winter!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/17/2007
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:09:20.00
• Distance: 8 miles
• Average Pace: 8:40.23/mile

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/15/2007
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:08:05.00
• Distance: 8 miles
• Average Pace: 8:30.64/mile

I had to get up extra early to get a 15-mile long run in this morning because we are going out of town this weekend and doing long runs on the road is never easy.  So at 4 a.m. I woke up and headed out into the frigid darkness (9 degrees+stiff wind=brrrrrrr!!!!).  Normally this would call for an indoor run at the Pettit Center (an indoor track around an Olympic ice skating oval near Milwaukee), but the Pettit doesn’t open until 6 a.m., which was too late.

Now that Boston training is here, my long runs have gone from a slow-n- easy pace to a faster pace.  Instead of doing 8:45-9:00 miles, I am shooting for 7:30-8:00 miles.  So I was more than happy when I got home this morning and calculated my pace to be 7:39.  Not bad for freezing temps, darkness, having to dodge cars and ice patches (both at the same time in some spots!), and running on an extremely hilly course.  Even better was that when I was done I still felt like I had a lot of hard miles left in me.  If I can avoid injury and burnout, I think I have a great shot at breaking the magical 3-hour barrier at Boston.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/14/2007
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:54:39.00
• Distance: 15 miles
• Average Pace: 7:38.6/mile

2 miles @ 8:30, 4 miles@ 7:10, 2 miles @ 8:25

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/13/2007
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:02:05.00
• Distance: 8 miles
• Average Pace: 7:45.72/mile

40 fun miles on my air bike, which is probably like 20 miles on a regular bike, but still a great workout.  I work up more of a sweat during this weekly workout than I do on my runs!

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 12/12/2007
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:58:40.00
• Distance: 40 miles
• Average Speed: 40.91 mph

It’s time to put the race season in the books and thus I will memorialize it with this blog entry. I ran 20 races, which easily surpassed my previous high of 5 set last year. I ran 14 5K races, and one 8K, 15K, 20K, 2-mile, 4-mile and half-marathon. Ironically, it was the first year in several that I have not run a marathon (which is maybe why I had the time to run so many shorter races).

I had 8 top 10 finishes, including 1 win. I finished 1st in my age group 6 times and second 7 times. I set a PR at every distance, including three PRs at the 5K distance. Although the year still has a few weeks left, it’s looking like I will finish 1st in the state of Wisconsin in the Active.com/Running USA runner rankings, and in the top 30 in the nation.

The highlight of my season was in October when I did the Lakefront Discovery Run 15K in 59:26. That was the race that gave me the confidence to shoot for a sub 3-hour time in next year’s Boston Marathon. The other highlight was winning last weekend’s Race for Cakes 5K and setting a PR in the process (18:23).

The lowlight was a race I didn’t run: the Boston Marathon. I was supposed to run this year’s race, but got the stomach flu on the way out to Boston and had to withdraw. A second lowlight was the week before Boston when I ran the South Shore Half Marathon in miserable weather (snow, temps in low 20s and a 30 mph wind in my face for the last 6.5 miles). I made a last-minute decision to run this race and it was probably a bad one as this is what likely led me to getting sick 5 days later and missing Boston.

Some of my unique age-group prizes included a hand-carved wood plaque, a $10 Walmart gift card, a flash light, a restaurant gift certificate, a wine glass and a trophy in the shape of a panther head. I also won lots of medals and certificates, and have a whole bunch of new t-shirts stacked in my closet.

3-mile warm up, 3×800 on treadmill with 1% to 3% incline at 6:00 pace, 3-mile cool down

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/11/2007
• Time: 17:00:46
• Total Time: 1:06:00.00
• Distance: 8 miles
• Average Pace: 8:15.19/mile

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/10/2007
• Time: 16:46:19
• Total Time: 1:08:32.00
• Distance: 8 miles
• Average Pace: 8:34.29/mile