Intentional Grounding

..and it's Sunday.  A very wet, rainy Sunday, at that. After a very wet, rainy weekend where I had the kids all to myself because my husband sucks Greg went to NYC to visit some buddies from college (no, I'm not bitter.  For the record, I encouraged this trip and fully support it).  

What does one do with two kids under 6 on a crappy weekend?  Well, I'll tell you.  We picked pumpkins.  Did trunk or treat at the local church. (No, they didn't convert me).  Got up at 5am and jumped on the trampoline (kids) while mommy did her 8 mile run (that was fun). Did a reeeallly wet village walk in Webster and scored more candy and decorated pumpkins during the Webster Halloween.  Hit up a playdate with our faves and drank lots of wine (that would be the adults, I think....though apparently Rob won himself a wife during a game of rock, paper scissors....dear god help me).  Went to the Y for some mom swim and kiddo play time.  Visited Tops for MORE cider, donuts and candy.  And here we are.  I'm beat.  For some reason I decided this was the weekend to do all the things, which is odd, since during a standard weekend, Greg and I buy into every introvert tendency we have and only go do the social things when we decide we are bad parents.  So why I thought I would do them on my own is beyond me, though I will say that the kids were GREAT and had a blast, so at the end of the day, its all worth it.

My "other job".

Speaking of the end of the day....I have to admit...I missed the hell out of Greg but it was awfully nice to do the girl things after I put the kids to bed.  Paint my nails.  Do a face mask (I don't care how old he is, even at 40, my husband still calls me Queen Amidala every time I put on my clay face mask.  (Is it 1999 again??)   Sit in front of the fire rereading Dan Brown's Origin with snax I don't have to share and the beautiful sound of silence.  Ahhhh.   While I'm ready for some adult interaction, it's been nice to have some time to just be, and to think about the past few months and where I want to be in the next 6 months or year.

Relax.  I'm not pregnant.  (I feel the need to tell everyone this every time I talk about the future).  Greg and I are solid.  And there are no 140.6's in my future, though I sure do think after my swim this morning, I should probably consider it. 

For the record, this is a lie.  But I would like it to be known that I DID do 3500 in an hour, including warm up, cool down, and 400 of drills including 3x100 with hand paddles, which may be torture devices, but are certainly effective at making my stroke cleaner and deeper (took me until now to make a That's what she said joke.  I'm losing my touch.) 

Ahem.  Thinking.  So, in honor of Sunday afternoon, when most of the world is immersed in NFL and....I have "Coco" on in the background for the kids, I find it totally reasonable to liken my current life situation with reference to a sport I know embarrassingly little about.

For the five of you that don't know, in football, intentional grounding is a violation of the rules where  the quarterback throws a forward pass without a realistic chance of it being caught.  It usually happens when the QB knows he is gonna be sacked if he doesn't pitch the ball, so he throws it....to no one.  

All I know beyond this is that Greg gets super pissed when this happens during a Carolina game, and I'm starting to get why.  I'm done with football analogies (thank god, I sound like an idiot), but when I think about the way I've been feeling about things lately, I'm pretty sure I call a penalty on myself for throwing the ball at big fat no one. 

I'm super pleased with the end of my 2018 season as a runner, but as I've said approximately 450 times (who's counting), clearly I wasn't impressed with my tri's.  I've been waffling there, even though I signed up for Barrelman in 2019, I did it because I had a coupon and I'm pretty prone to dumb choices the powers of persuasion.  

I had a great last race in Vermont but have also been feeling a bit at a loss lately for working out - for the last 8 months my workouts have had a purpose and now I'm just....exercising.  This does not bode well for someone that likes having a goal race to shoot for, even if logic dictates that an off season is a pretty smart idea (see above for that).

Oddly enough I got the inspo I needed this weekend from a buddy of mine at work, who also runs marathons.  She randomly texted me Friday night to ask if I wanted to race the Coffee Milk marathon with her in April - she is trying to BQ it, which for her, is a 3:55.  This is laughable, as she ran a 3:14 at Mohawk Valley last year, so in her amazingness, has offered to try to pace me to a 3:35 marathon and BQ.  In a new state (Rhode Island).  OMG. 

Of course, you know I did 3 things right away.  I googled the marathon.  I counted back 16 weeks for the Hansen plan.  I looked up rooms.  I requested PTO (nah, I'm kidding there.  I have to wait till January to do that).  Of course, I'm in like Flynn and super amped about it, even if it is a moonshot goal.  To add more fuel to the fire, by cousin invited me to come hang with her in Missouri for a marathon next fall - Mo Cowbell (Best name ever), so within 48 hours I basically planned out my major race season and have a viable plan for some serious kick assage (yes I made that up.  I don't care). 

I'll round it out with a few shorter running races and a few more tris (debating Musselman, Silver Serpent or another close one), and I think I have myself a season with a few scary yet doable goals.  SWEET.With that being said, my marathon training commences December 23rd, which is perfect for me, as I love my treadmill.  And Christmas cookies. 

I think this is gonna work out well.

So basically, I have 8 weeks to throw the ball at no one.   To take a break - with intent. To take a kickboxing class.  Meander on my mountain bike.  Pretend to swim.  Go for some social runs.  Take a day off (oh who are we kidding here).  Hopefully I don't get  flag on this one - I meant to do it.

But then again, who knows.

Green Mountain Marathon 2018: The Power of Redemption

And, just like that, the 2018 season is (for all intents and purposes) over.  What started back in February (well, ok, last July, if you count the exceptionally dumb idea to sign up for Ironman) is now over.  After 8 months of training, an Olympic tri, an Ironman, an Ultra marathon, half marathon, smaller assorted runs, and a marathon, 2018 is done.  Finitio.  And lest I go all Henry David Thoreau and start rhapsodizing about enlightenment in the  woods pain cave, I'll just step back and talk about what you really came to hear about- the last race of the season - Green Mountain Marathon! (we got time for pithiness later - you know me).

As you all know, I went into this race with the rage of a woman scorned by a season that has evaded her (don't mess with women triathletes - we are vicious beasts).  In a year where I felt more in shape than ever in my life, a decent time seemed like the mythical white walker - a slave to the elements with the ability to crush my pathetic human soul.  My lone PR was during the run segment of the Keuka Tri - a respectable new 10k PR, but also pathetic in light of the fact that it happened during a tri.  (Of course, if I haven't raced a stand alone 10k in years, I'm not sure when I would expect a PR otherwise.)  Enough.  I started out with the goal to go under 4, then on a reckless night of race research, decided to try to BQ.  This was slightly laughable as I needed to take 18 minutes off my time, and the Boston gods decided to make a larger mockery out of me by changing the standards to a 3:35 for my age group - which - if I can't run a stand alone half in 1:47:30, that goal might have to be a few years away.

Fine.  3:45.  I can do that.  I had a pretty awesome 12 week training stretch, ended with a freak injury in the last week to wreck my knee, and enough work induced stress in the last month to drive me to the point of over training (easy runs are not easy when pissed off at the man.  My fault).  With this in mind, I headed out to Vermont with Greg to see if I could at least go under 4 and redeem my pathetic attempts at salvaging the season.

My cousin Noah lives in Winooski, which was about 20 minutes away from the race.  He gave us a place to crash, brought us hiking the day before the race, and took us to the best Italian restaurant with to die for meatballs the night before the race.  He even lent me his Guy on A Buffalo mug, which makes him my coolest relation ever (he also hiked the PCT.  Twice.  He is amazing.  And he thinks I'm crazy!)

Flat Rae.  I ditched the new shorts.  Thank God.

He was super familiar with the course, and gave me some great recon, like - watch out for dinosaurs.  The fairy houses are pretty.  The dirt roads suck.  And if you thought this race was flat, you're an idiot.  He likened it to Lake Placid - which freaked me the hell out.  At that point, I started the fine sabotage effort pre race of trying things like having a beer.  Bringing out my new bun huggers I got for my birthday last week that I had never run in.  Ever.  Not even two miles.  Sleeping on the floor.  Trying to steal his cinnamon bun for a pre race breakfast.  All in the effort to jinx my race that I was scared out of my mind for.

I did a fine job, not drinking enough the day before, see above for sleep, but I did manage to talk myself out of potential chafe insanity by wearing my standbys, thank goodness.  Race morning we were up and at em, Noah drove us to the site, and the sun was rising with the promise of a perfect day.  After 6 potty stops (think I made up for my lack of drinking Saturday) I stripped down to shorts, a throwaway long sleeve shirt I've been trying to ditch since 2009, and stuffed my gu's down my bra cause at least having boobs is good for something I'm classy like that.

The temps were in the mid 50s with a decent cross wind, but the views were epic.  We started a quarter mile away from the finish line (race was sort of out and back with some random turns) and amid little fanfare, the 400 runners were off!!

Mile 5.  Boy, Vermont is ugly.  

The first few miles were pretty weird - I was cold as hell, couldn't feel my feet, and was pretty sure 26 was the worst number anyone ever invented.  At mile 2, we went down a huge hill that I knew would also be mile 24, but I feigned ignorance and lived in the moment.  The wind was actually pretty wicked and I tried to tuck in behind some tall dudes, who didn't exude much gentlemanly charm, and I quickly ditched them.  My watch ticked off anywhere form 7:50-8:10 miles, which I felt pretty good about.  Saw Noah and his girlfriend at mile 2 and mile 8, and gave a big thumbs up.  The course had Gatorade and water every two miles, so I did a cup of each, and chased a gel at mile 6.

At mile 10, I was averaging an 8:15 pace, and I started to flag a bit - shook out, did my first power walk up a hill, and moved on.  The middle part of the course was all rollers, but a decent amount of it was on dirt road with potholes and rocks, which was not the stuff dreams were made of.  We hit pavement again at mile 12, where I ditched my throwaway shirt and downed my second gel, which was mocha gu.  THIS WAS A GIANT MISTAKE.  I routinely eat with the grace of Joey Chestnut, and this was no exception.  Do you know what chocolate gu looks like on your hands, face and race tank?  Yeah, I'll just let that image simmer.  It wasn't pretty.  Thankfully they had a water stop at the turnaround, so I hosed off and lost that fresh poop look which gave my fellow runners one less reason to avoid me.  Phew.

Speaking of the turnaround, I hit it with a new half marathon PR, which was either really good, or really bad.  The first half of the race was definitely more downhill than the return (Looking at you, Lake Placid), so I knew a negative split was not only laughable, but pretty much an impossibility on my part.  As I turned around, we started to run back toward the lake and I finally got to see more of what made this race so damn awesome.  Even though my calves were shot and my niggling hip twinges were getting noticeable, I was treated to the amazing sights of the Green Mountains, the foliage, wineries (no, I didn't stop), and amazing farms.  At mile 15 there was a wonky turn (which I later found out many people missed and ran an extra mile), but luckily I did NOT have a repeat of The Lakeshore Marathon and chose the correct path. Post turn we travelled back onto dirt road and, as a worthy consolation prize, were treated to this:

This is what it's all about.

Perfection.  The next 5 miles were run quite close to Lake Champlain and saved me.  The hills were bigger, the wind a firm headwind, but the scenery was amazing.  This is why I run.  This is why I am SO LUCKY to be able to run.  I thanked my good fortune to be out there, breathing in the air and living life to it's fullest.  Hit mile 20 in 2:53 and knew that a sub 4 was totally possible, even if I ran 10 minute miles.  I was averaging 9:15's running most of it and walking the steep part of the hills.  Saw Noah, Greg and Noah's girlfriend and her friend at mile 21 and yelled "It's a great day to PR!!" - even though I was legit in pain, I reminded myself that I had less than an hour to go and six months post race to be comfortable.  It was my time.  LET'S DO IT.

Mile 21.  Do it, bitch.

Mile 22 and 23 were pretty uneventful - hit mile 23 in 3:24 and I knew I could swing a 10 minute mile for 5k so I started to think a PR really was in the books.  Then I saw them.

Holy shit.  A friggin brontosaurus.  There was a whole damn forest of dinosaurs amid fairy houses right on the side of the road that I missed on the way out, which was hilarious and totally not a surprise at all, seeing as there were probably also some magical plants amidst the beasts, being Vermont and all.  I didn't stick around to get the munchies, though - I had places to go.  Saw my crew one more time and Greg advised me to stay strong up the final hill.  I flipped him the bird, as I am totally a mature adult, and kept on going.

Mile 24 sucked donkey balls. There is no other way to put it.  Somehow in the last 3 hours, the damn hill on the way out grew twice its size and resembled either Barracks Hill Rd in Geneva or Rich Clark hill in Placid, or, more accurately,  a fine shitty mix of both.  I alternated 100 paces walking and 100 paces running, like a woman on a mission, which I was.  Mile 25.  3:43.  2016 PR, you are toast.  I turned the final corner and headed it in, passing two women in the final mile, stopping for nothing, and finished strong in 3:43:42, a 5 minute PR on a course I had no business PRing on.

Post race I completely collapsed in my husband's arms, a hot, happy mess.  Drank my ritual diet coke (shut up.  I know.) Headed back to Noah's to shower.  And then drove 6 hours home, stopping for some sad McDonald's en route.  Don't let the post race lack of fanfare fool you - I am a happy happy girl.  I ended up 14th woman and 27th overall, with a pace of 8:53 for 26.2 miles (I ran 26.3, which in my book, was pretty damn good).  The pace floors me - if you would have ever told me I could average under 9 minute miles for a marathon, I would have laughed at you.

Boston.  You are mine.  Maybe not in 2020.  But SOON.

All in all, I would consider the weekend a huge success.  How can you complain about a brand new marathon PR on a hilly ass course, and a new (albeit by 30 seconds) half marathon PR?  I'll take it.  Which, if anyone's counting, brings my running PR's for 2018 to 3: 10k, half marathon, and full marathon.  I am of course, trying to find a 5k to do in the next 3 weeks to up that ante to a perfect 4.

My tri PRs:  big fat zero.  So, of course, to celebrate my running successes in 2018, I signed up for my first race in 2019 - Barrelman triathlon, a half ironman in Niagara Falls.  Nobody said I was anything resembling intelligent.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be off, learning how not to suck at swimming and riding.

(Drunken) Cow and (Angry) Cat pose: the art of form (and why I lack it)

It's all fun and games till the taper starts.  Fact of life.  After the last two months of running 50-60 miles per week on the Hanson plan (I'll spare you my crap singing), the big day is right around the corner - Sunday is the Green Mountain Marathon, state #10 and marathon who the heck knows what. 

If you know me at all, you know the concept of taper brings out my evil, evil side.  Last week I got to run 40 miles, this week I've racked up a big 20.  WTF.

WHAT THE HELL DO I DO WITH MY TIME.  I could clean the house (BAH.  Greg and I did start a kitchen remodel, but it's more in the knocking shit down stage and less in the bleach and a rag stage, thank goodness.).  I could spend more time with family and friends (which I have been doing - my kids even remember my name now when they want something #winning). 

I could also be whiny brat about how I can't run and make an attempt at doing some cross training.  Well, you know where this is going.  Last week  decided to try something I haven't done since pre Ironman training and I took a yoga class.  Background story - I used to dance for years and legitimately could lift my leg over my head....15 years ago.  Running, biking and swimming might do wonders for your cardio life and fitting into your jeans, but stretching is embarrassingly low on my agenda and my downward dog consists of playing on the ground with my sitter's canine (I'll be here all week, thankyouverymuch).  So with some trepidation, I took part in a class called "Active Yoga" which sort of seemed obvious to me, but then again, I'm sort of a snob about all things not running, biking or swimming clueless. 

The verdict?  I can still do a mean sun salutation, but apparently my flow has flown out the window with regards to yogic form.  My sun salutations are jerky, my cobra is more of a sleeping snake, and my cow needs to go home....it's drunk.  Regardless of the fact that I probably need to do more at the Y than enjoy the hot tub swim and play in the adventure center, I really did enjoy the class and expect to work on my vinyasa post marathon.  Then again, I say that every time.

In our second installment of taper adventures, I've decided that if I won't get on my bike, I may as well get some more swimming in, so I've actually swam three times a week the last two weeks.  I know what you are thinking, and no, no one stole my blog account, it's me.  My idea of swimming is really to throw some crappy 90s music on my play list and leisurely do laps till I hit anywhere between 2400m and 3200m, equalling a nice 45-60 min swim. 

That sounds nice.  Lately, no one seems willing to let me do this.  Apparently, my form resembles that of an angry cat (and probably the grace of the drunken cow I left back in yoga class).  In the past 4 months, I have been told by not one, not two, but four people, that my swim form kind of blows.  Greg has told me this kindly for years, but taking training tips from your husband rarely works in my books, as he will give me some very obvious analogy that makes absolutely no sense to me.  We excel at moving furniture and understand expensive bike purchase and/or 6 hour training rides, so in my books, I'll let the coaching dogs lie. 

This year, I swam at the Gananda pool for months and a woman who is pretty well known around here asked me one morning post swim if I knew how truly terrible my form was.  Well....yes, thanks.  She did follow it up with an offer to coach, so aside from being kind of abrupt, I gave her a pass and gratefully accepted.  Then they closed the pool, so we joined the Y.  Crap.  A few weeks back, Greg and I were doing laps and one of our tri buddies stood next to him at the end of our lane and asked Greg if I ever took lessons, because I probably should.  As I finished my 2400m set, I joined them and probably surprised him by making fun of my own form.  Then we compared Ironman swim splits and he laughed at himself, as my shitty form netted a faster Ironman swim than his.  Most recently, another fellow triathlete who seems to swim the same time I do has been nice enough to give me a few pointers - seeing as he was a swimmer in college and has done a sub 1 hour IM swim split, I guess I can't make fun of him too terribly yet.  He told me my hands look like a pissed off cat and that if I focused on hand entry, I would probably improve, and suggested the fingertip drill.  After I bit back my inner 12 year old "that's what she said" comments thanked him,I took his advice gratefully and will continue to try not to resemble my Bengal cat after I withhold chicken for dinner.   With that being said, I still think I will probably wait a bit before attempting to circle swim with him and the all world triathlete he hangs out with.  Maybe next year, when Santa brings me my new swim jet.

 To add insult to injury, I decided to take the taper to a new level by attempting to rake surf tripping on a rake at a party on Wednesday, and after landing knee first holding Biz on the rake handle, my right knee is swollen, black and blue, and SUPER AMPED to do 26.2 miles.

Bottom line, I got no game form.

Aside from the hot mess that I clearly am, I'm still excited to take on Vermont and check off another state, enjoy some fall foliage, adult time with my equally crazy cousin (who has hiked the PCT twice, woot!) and get back to my running game.  Which clearly, I have found myself with.

(Mad props to Greg's skillz)

And that's why running, in the end, is clearly the superior sport.  Am I right??

Mmm Hop: My Hanson Review

So sue me.  Every time I think about my marathon training plan, I revert to the Hanson Brothers insult of to the music industry from the 90's. Yes, I know, I need my head examined.  You also already knew that.

But DID YOU KNOW....that aside from the musical stylings of Mmm Bop and the original Tay Tay's boyish good looks, that the Hanson trio brought us more than just "epic" tunage?  Yep.  They brought us Hops.  Or, in case you still think my post title is not only lame but a typo, I didn't stutter.

Nothin' like livening up shitty 90's music that sucked twenty years ago like a drinking game.  You're welcome.

Well, aside from time hopping everyone back twenty years (see what I did there), I really am here to talk about a different set of Hanson brothers, who might not be as famous as the three that should have quit while they were ahead , but are arguably more influential to those of us that are stupid enough to run fifty plus miles a week.

As many of you faithful readers know (all 6 of you), I've followed quite a few marathon training methods in the last ten years - all in a quest to break 4 hours.  I finally found success back in 2016 on the 3rd try to break the 3:xx tape- after ditching "Less is More" and adding in an extra hour easy run; I found four runs a week while NOT trying to train for a triathlon or ultra marathon at the same time brought success.  Sounds simple....because it is.  So why improve upon success?

Well, I'm glad you asked.  I've run a few marathons since my epic breaking of the 4 - one attached to an Ironman, so we won't count that one, and one where I ended up running an extra mile due to the fact that I'm a moron I liked Northern Ohio so much I decided to tour the town and extend the original course.  Clearly, neither of these guys were PR setting events, so its about time I redeem my damn season and shoot for the marathon time I know I am capable of doing.  Combined with the fact that my bike and I are still in the  "its complicated" stage of our relationship. I figured ditching multi sport and running 6 days a week seemed like a wise terrible way to start tri off season. Enter my super speedy runner friend Amanda and the plan that got her to a legit fast marathon - The Hanson method.

The basic premise of the plan is to run 6 days a week - 3 runs are super easy relaxed pace and 3 are "SOS" runs, or, "something of substance".  Each week you do a strength set, which is speed work for us slow twitch runners - repeats ranging from 1200 to 3 miles; one tempo run ranging from 5 to 10 miles, and a long run that builds to 16 miles.  It was appealing because all I want to do is run....and I never have 3 hours to do a long run now that they sort of expect me to...work at work.  The nerve.

Even though it freaks me out that my longest run is 10 miles shy of a marathon distance, I am loving this plan.  I jumped into the last 9 weeks of the 16 week plan figuring Ironman gave me some sort of base (I know, I'm wild like that) and have only missed one run to date.  I'm running anywhere between 50 and 60 miles a week, which is a huge jump from any past marathon.  I struggle to keep the "recovery pace", as its about 90 seconds per mile slower than cruising speed, and have had a few issues keeping pace with long run speed, which is, for me, 8:45-9 mm. My first 16 miler was done at 90 degrees and we took that at face value, but I held it nicely for the second. The whole idea is that for 90% of the runs, you enter into it tired, but able to build up the running legs to handle the volume and pace - basically, you are training to run miles 10-26.2, not 1-16.  I can get behind that.

Overall, no injuries to speak of (Rae, you idiot, shut up), other than some tightness on my hip which I believe is due to road camber (there are some wicked slants on my main route) so I've been trying to mix the route up and have been doing the speed work on the 'mill, which seems to help.  Overall, I'm pleased with the process, and have never hit the Awww crap, I HAVE to run today mode.  Rather, I get pissy on my "off" day and can't wait to get back out there, which has made the post IM blues much more tolerable. 

The results?  Well, we shall see in 13 days!  State #10, Vermont, is my next Target - Green Mountain Marathon, which, despite it's name, is not that hilly, and run entirely on the island of South Hero Vt.  I am super amped and hope the weather gods got out all their aggravation up in the Adirondacks and in Geneseo and that we have some great fall mary weather! 

And if not?  Welp, at least I know post race I have options.  So there's still that. Though god knows, if I end up chugging shitty beer post race in Winooski, VT,  I will not be held responsible for any social media, blogging, or texts that may ensue.  And that means two beers, in case you had any doubts that I am anything but a lightweight. 

And you thought I was just here to talk about running. Or maybe I should just stick to that next time :)