Swamp Fires, Earthquakes, and Hurricanes Oh My!

It's been a very eventful week in Virginia to say the least. Just in the past seven days we've dealt with the extreme smoke from the lateral west fire in the Dismal Swamp, a 5.9 earthquake in Mineral, VA (about 150 miles from our house), and the big mother, Hurricane Irene. As of right now, we have some powerful thunderstorms headed our way as well as another TORNADO WARNING! Geez!

Well, we are sooo thankful that we were able to come away with very minimal water damage in our garage. There is quite a bit of debris to clean up as well, but we got the day off from work to take care of the mess. Some of our neighbors did not fare as well because their property sits a bit lower and many have a slab foundation. Our house is up a few feet higher than our neighbors because of our crawl space foundation.

Running was okay this week, still taking all of my iron supplements and working on adding more iron to my diet. I didn't feel great this week, but still felt I would have a good race on Saturday.

The race itself was crazy. First, we didn't even know if they were going to let us run because of the hurricane. We decided we were going to evacuate on Friday and we had to take Bella with us, so we found a hotel in Ashland that was pet-friendly. We figured either way we would be safe from the Hurricane and maybe we would get to run if the race was still on. Well, they made the decision on Saturday morning to go through with it. I was nervous for various reasons but excited to race since it had been so long. The first mile marker than I saw was at mile 3, and I figured out I was running 6:45 pace, which was ok. I was aiming to start at 6:40 and drop it down to 6:30. Unfortunately that didn't work out because we ran straight into the wind for miles 5-10. I was still at 6:45 pace by mile 10, and feeling fine although I was having a lot more thoughts than usual. Usually I am very focused on the race and have very few thoughts that I can remember.

There was a long downhill before the hill I knew was coming at mile 11. Well... no one said it was going to be a MILE LONG! Literally, the mile 12 marker was at the top of the effing hill. Seriously! My legs were dead, my shoes sopping wet from the rain, but I pumped my arms as hard as I could to get myself going again. A few people pased me, and they were going a lot faster than me. My other thought was SHIT! I came to the mile 13 marker and looked at my watch and it said 1:29:15 and then I said it out loud "SHIT!". Well, I got to the line right at 1:30, and I was mad! The guy handed me a third place plaque, all smiles, I faked a smile back to him. I was soooo royally pissed. I laid on the grass, soaking wet from the rain, more rain pelting me, but I didn't care. I had been thinking this whole week that I would run 1:26- 1:27 on flat course, but with the hills I figured 1:27- 1:28. Never did think I would run another 1:30. I ran that time in March when I was only running 2-3 days per week and had no training plan. I've put in 12 solid weeks of 55-70 miles per week, and now basically no improvement? I'm still annoyed, but getting over it. I know the wind was bad but I'm pretty tough and figured I would power through it.

Eventually I quit being a baby and enjoyed the rest of the weekend of being temporary 'fugees. First we got the hell out of that "Quality" Inn we were staying at. We found a much nicer pet-friendly hotel in Richmond, a newly-remodeled Holiday Inn with a huge flat screen TV, King-size bed with nice linens, and a fully-equipped fitness room. We enjoyed some drinks and dinner and watched coverage of the storm all night. Bella was very excited because there were so many guests with dogs. It was her dream come true.

So... here's this week's summary:
Monday: off
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: AM 5 miles/ PM 6 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: 4 miles
Saturday: 14 miles (1 mile warm up, 13.1 race, didn't feel like cooling down)
Sunday: weak treadmill attempt of 5 miles
Total: 44 miles

Six Weeks To Go!

"Road racing is rock 'n roll; track is Carnegie Hall."
Marty Liquori

The World Championships in Daegu, South Korea begin this week. I also have my first tune-up race this Saturday, a half marathon. I would like to say that I'm excited for this race, but I'm more excited to watch the coverage of the World Championships on Universal. Road races can be exciting to watch and are definitely fun to participate in, but track really is the cream that rises to the top. I love watching the different racing tactics and seeing how the race plays out, especially at Worlds when the stakes are so high. It'll be interesting to see how much my marathon training will pay off in the spring. It's been soooo long since I've run a race on the track but I am very excited for the prospect of that actually happening. I'm getting ahead of myself though.

Anywhoo, I think I have the iron thing working for me. I really didn't know what to expect on my long run yesterday, but I ended up making it 19 miles. I actually felt good until about 17.5 and then I started to feel really bad. I didn't feel like carrying my water with me so I was probably more dehydrated than normal, and I couldn't stomach the shot bloks (I only had 4 for the whole run, which is the equivalent of one gel). I don't know why but I was not in the mood to eat those and I normally like them. But the good news is that I was able to make it that far without the low iron symptoms from last week. I hope if I can just take it easy again this week, things will fall into place for my race this weekend. That will be a huge confidence boost.


Monday off
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 12 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: 4 miles AM/ 9 miles PM (w/ 4 mile tempo 6:45 pace)
Saturday: 7 smoke-filled miles
Sunday: 19

Total: 61 miles

PS- this really confuses me, but the "weeks to go" thing means that at the end of the week, I'll have 6 weeks until my marathon. I don't know why the dude that made this plan counts it like that, but he does.

*Actual* Recovery Week

The main topic of conversation around here is that the Dismal Swamp is on fire. This has been going on for weeks, and it is still only 10% contained. Depending on the wind direction, it can be quite dangerous to be outside. It takes some planning to avoid running when (and where) the smoke is at it's worst. This morning I was lazy and slept in and when I opened my front door I was hit with a thick waft of smokiness. I ran anyway, and managed to make it through without major respiratory probs.

Besides the impending school year (ugh) the other major thing on my mind has been my iron levels. I've been taking a multivitamin and emergenC pack every day as well as my slow-release iron tablet. I tried and failed at giving up coffee so I've just been taking the iron at lunch time. I've been really good except for yesterday because I was in shopaholic mode. Pete and I somehow got so into shopping that we missed lunch, then got stuck in traffic, so we didn't eat "lunch" until 5pm. We still had to do our tempo run too, so I skipped the iron pill (it can cause stomach issues). I still can't believe how much things can change in a few days. I could barely finish 5 miles at 7 min pace last Sunday. Last night I wanted to see how I felt running faster so I did Pete's tempo with him. We ran 4 miles at 6:45 pace and it felt easy, just like it should. I'm supposed to do a 22 mile long run tomorrow, but I may just do 20. I have to be careful not to get super excited and push myself over the edge again. Low iron can be a tricky thing.

Monday off
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 12 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: 4 miles AM/ 9 miles PM (w/ 4 mile tempo 6:45 pace)
Saturday: 7 smoke-filled miles
Sunday: (22)?

Mooooooo

Last week was a "recovery" week with reduced mileage. I felt really good until Saturday when I did 8 miles with 10 x 100 meters and I swear I felt like I could not get any air in my lungs! After each of the last 4 I had to stop for about 15 seconds before I could resume running again. I blamed it on the heat and the smoke from the dismal swamp fire that continues to burn (and is only 10% contained as of yesterday). I felt kind of crappy for the rest of the day on Saturday, but still made sure to be hydrated and carb-loaded.

On Sunday we got a late start. As much as I hate waking up early I would rather get started at 6 rather than 7 because there are far less people on the trail and it's much cooler. Pete and I started our slow 2 mile warm-up together, 8:30 and 8:25 for the first 2 miles. I felt like complete garbage and couldn't catch my breath again. I actually felt like my lungs were burning. Of course I sucked it up and started my marathon pace run, after a quick stop to stretch. The first mile felt great, came through the half in 3:18 so I slowed it down a little and ran 6:50 for the first mile. Mile 2 was a 7:02 which was fine. Then I focused on keeping that pace to the turnaround at 5 miles where I would refill my water. Mile 3 7:04, whoops gotta pick it up. Mile 5, 7:07. Shit. By this point my lungs were really screaming and I was having trouble lifting my legs. I powered through mile 5 in 7:00 then stopped and basically hyperventilated as if I had just raced a 400 all-out on the track.

Suddenly I had a flashback to 2003 and 2004 when I remembered feeling exactly like this. It's such a strange feeling. I know I'm in good shape, and 7:00 per mile should feel easy. I just did a 6 mile tempo at 6:30 per mile 2 weeks ago. It's low iron! I started to think of all of the symptoms I experienced then and now, and what I had to do to fix them. I haven't trained this much since 2004, so I guess it was just a matter of time.

After Pete and I finished our run (I ended up running 14 total, but didn't do the rest of my marathon pace) we first went home and showered and figured out where to eat lunch. When we got to the restaurant, I looked through the menu and picked out a burger with roasted tomatoes, cheddar, and bacon. Hold the bacon, please. I also ordered an orange juice, which seems like a weird combo, but the vitamin C helps you absorb the iron better. Anyway, it was ok, I felt a little naseous when we left but it thankfully passed. We stopped by Target to get a multivitamin, raspberry emergenC, and SlowFe. SlowFe contains ferrous sulfate, which most doctors recommend because it is better absorbed. The multivitamin contains ferrous fumarate, which is another compound containing iron. I asked the pharmacist if it was better to get the name brand, but she said the Target brand is just as good so we went with that.

Last but not least: no coffee, tea, sugar, soda, etc. for awhile, especially with the supplements. They interfere with the absorption of Iron. No fun.

Week Summary:
Monday: off
Tuesday: 9 miles
Wednesday: 9 miles (6 x 800 meters workout)
Thursday:6 miles recovery
Friday: 11 miles in 1:24
Saturday: 8 miles w 10 x 100
Sunday: 14 with 5 at marathon pace
Total: 57 miles