Endless tomorrows

I thought not of the day's worries and sorrows but rather my mind filled with flurries of endless tomorrows. 

As I sit in a seminar, contemplating how long it will take me to finish my experiments this afternoon, I waffle about whether to run 8 or 10 miles later today. My hip flexor felt a little tight this morning on my walk in, perhaps I should just do 8, my legs need a little rest. "Just do 8? Who is writing this blog?", you ask, perplexed. Certainly it can't be the quality-not-quantity middle distance runner you've grown to know. 

"It is still me!" I exclaim, a newly minted mileage buff. The past couple of months I have been flirting just above and below 60 mile weeks, and partially adopted a naive sense of being part of the club. The club of long distance runners, marathoners, those undergoing the real trial of miles. I don't want to mislead you, I am very aware that I'm not running high mileage. BUT I have been running high Robyn mileage. In other words, I've (finally) figured out a training regimen that does not result in physical breakdown over 40 miles per week. 

No, I'm not moving up to marathons (or 10Ks for that matter), I'm still focused on breaking 5:00 in the mile. August is wrapping up and I have just a few more weeks of my mileage base before I transition to lactate threshold and tempo work - sticking in the 50's for weekly miles. I'm not sure how my indoor track season will pan out, but it's fun to find new comfortable states in my training. Especially finding a way to reliably increase my volume by a whopping 25-30 miles per week. I still surprise myself when I think of an 8 mile run as an easy day, however, there are many training challenges to come... I'm just going to savor this feeling for now. 

PS - Random destination run recommendation: Niagara Falls, Toronto side at 7-8am (before the tourists!) to the butterfly gardens

PPS - If you're curious, the main 3 changes to my training are:

1. Inhaler - controlling my asthma has drastically improved my recovery between training runs

2. Hip circuit - religious strengthening & range of motion exercises 3x per week has kept me moving relatively pain free

3. Dairy - this delicious food group makes me feel ill/fatigued, so now, sadly, I eat less of it. (<3 cheese forever)

Training like an Elite, Volume 2

Two years ago, just coming off a broken leg, I was in Lake Tahoe, California at 6,000 feet above sea level when I started my slow comeback to running. This trip, with its scenery and confidence building steps, gave me the altitude bug. Ever since then, I've kept in the back of my mind that I wanted to head back to altitude to do some serious training. Training and peaking in my milage for Boston seemed like the perfect opportunity, so I booked tickets to Boulder, Colorado to visit a good friend and have the wind knocked out of me.

I was in Boulder for a full week and initially I didn't seem to be affected by being at 5,000+ feet above sea level. A quick shake-out run the first day I was there felt normal, even good. I did burn the chicken I cooked because #bakingataltitude. But my big concern, and the reason I was there, was my impending 20 mile long run on Saturday morning. 20 miles, or for me three hours of running, is mind-numbing and potentially awful on one's own even at sea-level, so I sought out a local running group that I could accompany. I got really lucky that the women I ran with were chatty and good for about 14 miles in the morning. They lead me through the packed dirt roads around the Boulder Reservoir, and thanks to their incessant chatter (one woman was espousing the incredible company that is Uber...like who's never heard of them before?), I was able to soak in the sun and beautiful scenery and forget that I was suffering internally.

No wonder I had a nice run!

In reality, my 20 miler went great! I ran the third hour on my own, and while I did start to get very hungry around mile 17, I didn't hit a wall and was able to keep pace for my whole run. Even more exciting was that this 20 miler was two minutes faster than my run of that distance last year, but this time I was breathing in significantly less oxygen. I had been warned beforehand that recovery at altitude often takes a lot longer, so as soon as I finished my run and returned to the car, I chugged some water and a protein shake, and nibbled on a pistachio muffin (all the sugars and carbs!) as I did some dynamic stretching. Once I got home, I showered, pulled on some compression socks and curled up for a nap.

Of course, my "elite" altitude training wouldn't be complete without some sort of social media interaction with women much faster than I. Heading to Boulder, I knew that many elites were in the area altitude training as well, and I was hoping to at least run into them, if not actually stalk them and become best friends (Kara Goucher, why didn't you respond to my invitation to get coffee together!?). And I did almost literally run into a few. My running team, Oiselle, has an elite training group called Little Wing that at the moment consists of three steeple chasers chasing the OTQ, and coached by the incredible Lauren Fleshman. Halfway into my LR around the reservoir, my group and I ran by another group and I recognized these women by the Oiselle clothes they were in. Later, on my own, I ran by two of the women and waved to them, yelling "Hey Little Wing!" They seemed pumped to both recognize my running top (also obviously Oiselle #flystyle) and realize that I knew who they were. After my run I checked Twitter, and was delighted to find this awesome tweet from them. Once again, day/week/life made:

*praise hands emoji*

And my active altitude training didn't end there. The next morning, I headed even higher up, to about 10,000 feet, to go cross country skiing. Now I am not one to put on any type of snow sport equipment, but knowing that Nordic skiing is such good cardio and non-impact cross training, I had to give it a try. I went with my friend to her local mountain and we explored the pristine trails for about two hours. We worked up both a sweat and an appetite and had so much fun. My parents can't believe I'm saying this, but I would definitely cross country ski again!

Now that I'm back at sea-level and tapering, I'm continuing to get massages from my amazing PT, and today even I ran some easy miles on the AlterG anti-gravity treadmill at 75% body weight. Boston is 11(!) days away and I'm doing the best I can to take care of my body, given how many miles I've pounded them through over the course of the past four months. My training hasn't gone exactly as planned but at the same time I've had some awesome runs. I feel fit, ready and beyond excited to toe the line in Hopkinton and make my way into Boston, with a right on Hereford and left on Boylston. My stint as an elite at altitude in Boulder has prepared me well.

Love,
Rachel "legs up on the wall" Runner

Cheers to the chase

Not every goal will be met nor will every dream be realized, but it is the chase that makes life worth living.

As of Turkey day, I had been running for 9 weeks post-injury. As planned, I built mileage slowly and actually followed the 10% rule. Importantly, I held back and haven't attempted anything faster than tempo pace. That said, the number of "workouts" or more accurately, "up tempo runs", could be counted on one hand. 

1xmile @ 6:55

5k @ 6:45

2x10min @ 6:55

7,5,3,1 min @ 7:00

For mileage, my leg held up for a robust week of 52miles averaging just under 8:00 pace and all on a crazy work week. 

~Off to the races! ~

This year it was unseasonably warm for thanksgiving. The family rode the gravy train to a bunch of speedy times at the seacoast rotary turkey trot in Portsmouth. Bro ran a PR. Pa dipped under 7:00 pace at 60 years old. Ma restrained her racing blood and cruised in under 22 without so much as breaking a sweat. And I surprisingly managed to crank out a sub 20 performance (19:53) off of the "speedwork" listed above and another hellish work week. Considering this is technically only my 4th time under 20 - how'd that happen? - I'm thinking I'm onto something and therefore staying with the hip rehab (Myrtle hip exercises) + mileage for another block and sticking to the extra extra extra conservative reinstatement of speedwork. 

For perspective, my highest mileage week ever was in 2010 at 55, back when I was carefree and relatively injury-naive pre-stress fracture. I have tried various times to increase to that point but have been derailed by injury over and over. It felt like I'd defined my mileage ceiling and it was disappointingly low. It still might be, but the hip and core rehab have been tremendously helpful, so maybe it's different this time. 

The 3 weeks of mileage after thanksgiving are scheduled for 52, 57, 62...

I hit the 57 mark this week which makes for both a longest mileage week ever and longest run ever (14.3). I'm still feeling great and most of the work feels like quality miles and not too strenuous.

Stay tuned for how my body and mind holds out venturing into uncharted waters of 60+. 

Sincerely, 

Robyn "hare, taking a page from tortoise" Runner

Perhaps the most telling part of this picture is the dark scar on my knee from back in September.
Very thankful that my training has healed faster than my skin.