Reboot

4.33 miles in 51:04 @ 11:46 pace and 170/185 bpm for 643 calories
4.22 miles in 46:11 @ 10:54 pace and 170/185 bpm for 646 calories
1,400 yards (35 laps) in 30:00 for 294 calories
5 miles in 60:00 @ 12:00 pace for 755 calories (treadmill @ 1% incline)
2,350 yards (47 laps) in 50:00 for 490 calories
20.45 miles in 1:18:13 @ 15.7 mph and 143/175 bpm for 1,094 calories
4.15 miles in 50:00 @ 12:00 pace for 629 calories (treadmill @ 1% incline)

After my little disease vector Emma brought home a particularly nasty rhinovirus, I took two weeks off from training.  Since then, I’ve been on the road a lot—Chicago, Seattle, and Minneapolis just this month—and barely squeezing in time to exercise.  But I have managed to stay on track, even if I’ve been skipping blogging about my workouts until tonight.  Here’s a quick recap of some highlights:

• I’m back to running in my Brooks shoes, the ones that gave me blisters during the Houston Half-Marathon.  I searched dozens of different running Web sites for a cure that would keep me running in them, and I finally found it: duct tape!  That’s right, I loosely wrap the arch of my foot in duct tape before each run.  I sweat enough that it doesn’t stick to my foot, and I’ve completely eliminated my blister problems.
• I swam in the hotel pool in Seattle on my first morning there.  My local pool is a saltwater pool, and this was my first time in chlorine in a while.  It was nice to be able to swim on the road.
• I ran on treadmills in Seattle and Minneapolis, 1% incline for about an hour each time.  I read that 1% incline makes a treadmill run roughly equivalent to running outdoors.  It was a lot more boring but it felt good to squeeze in early morning workouts before my meetings.
• My first real bike ride in a while went nicely, although I had to cut it short to make it to church on time.

I had a great dinner with Debbie and Tim while I was in Minneapolis.  They took me out to Craftsman and I had an incredible meal—perfect Midwestern with a bit of a twist: an incredible cheese plate with a really good local guyere, a spicy lamb sausage with kale and chickpeas, a couple glasses of Rose, and 2.5 hours of catching up with my sister and her fiancé.

2009 Aramco Houston Half-Marathon Race Report

13.33 miles in 2:26:32 (2:35:50 chip time) @ 10:59 pace and 165/184 bpm for 2,031 calories

With all of the good luck I’ve had with training and races (at least the races that I actually start), I was bound to have at least one bad event.  This was definitely it.

At least I enjoyed my company, though.  My day started early, in my hotel room with Joanne and Emma in Kingwood, Texas. I grew up with an “extended family”—the Larsons— that included two daughters: Nicole and Michele. Joanne, Emma, and I travelled to Michele’s house in Kingwood over the weekend to celebrate a late Christmas with the Larsons. Nicole is married to a guy named Mike, and my sister is engaged to a guy named Tim. Since we were all in Houston, we decided to run the Houston Marathon/Half-Marathon. Mike, Tim and I ran the half, and my sister ran the full.

I woke up just before 5:00am, changed and snuck quietly out of the hotel, and piled into my mom’s SUV and headed downtown. Finding a parking space with all of the streets blocked off was a nightmare, but mom got us there and we all made our way to the start line.

I should mention at this point that due to a mix-up, the race actually sold out before we were able to register. But my crafty sister Debbie used craigslist to buy 4 race entries from injured runners. So that day, I ran as 39-year-old Susanna Jacobvik (at least the last name was close!).  Now, it seems that Susanna is a pretty speedy lady, because she was signed up in the front group of runners. Tim (Anna) and Mike (Horacio) actually are fast runners, but they obliged me by lining up in the back of the front group. We chatted while we jumped up and down to keep warm in the cold pre-dawn breeze, but when the gun went off I promptly waved goodbye and started a slow but steady pace. See, if you’ve followed my blog you know that I’ve never run 10 miles before, and I definitely didn’t want to blow up before I hit 13. I planned a 10:30 pace and hoped to surprise myself with something closer to 10:00.

A little over 3 miles into the race, my plans changed. I started to feel a “hot spot” on the arch of both of my feet. Now I have never really gotten blisters before, even on very long runs in heat and humidity, so I figured I was just imagining it. At 5 miles the heat I felt turned into pain, and I decided that I probably had the beginnings of a blister but that no matter what I was going to finish.  I stopped at the next medical tent and asked for advice–they said to slather vasoline and keep on using it throughout the race. Now, the vasoline did get me through the race, but it added 11+ minutes to my race time and made for one heck of a mess. By the end of the race I had a bad blister on my left foot and a really bad blister on my right foot (the size of the bottom of a coke can).

But I did finish, and I even got to see Joanne, Emma, Patty, Bruce, Nicole, Michele, and Adrian at the finish line!  I missed seeing my mom Sandy, as she was out on the race course cheering on my sister, who ended up finishing in just over 4 hours.  Tim and Mike finished with great times as well, and Mike even talked about running another half-marathon later that year.

I must admit that I didn’t really enjoy the race itself. Music wasn’t allowed on the course and I spent most of the race with my mind on my blisters rather than all the fun and energy of a typical big half-marathon.  So if you asked me today, I don’t really want to run this distance again, either on its own or as a part of a half-Ironman. But I’m sure when the blisters heal, I’ll get the urge to try it again, if for no other reason than to finish the distance healthy at least once.

Feeling better out there

7.06 miles in 1:18:25 @ 11:07 pace and 160/173 bpm for 1,059 calories

Well, so much for my running streak idea.  I just don’t think I’m cut out for it, especially in this cold “off-season” and with my sister advising me to steer clear of it in the comments of my last post.  Today’s run comes four days after my previous one, but happily with a much less sore body at the end of it.  We’ll see how well I keep on schedule between today and the half marathon.

My sister the slave driv–I mean cheerleader

47:45 @ 142/167 bpm for 680 calories

“Come on Monday!  Challenge that body with the tension!”

“You woke up early!  You came to cycle class!  You paid for this gym membership!  Now use it!”

“And now, the incredible Tina Turner.  She’s got huge pipes and she’s gonna chase you, so when she starts that chorus, you better sprint!”

My first ever gym spin class was taught by my sister.  A “cycle class” instructor for Lifetime Fitness, Debbie teaches at two different gyms twice a week.  Her teaching style is heavy on interval training—almost the entire session is a series of sprints or jumps or hill climbs or some evil combination of the three—and heavy on, well, motivation.  Many of the people in her class are advanced “group fitness” junkies, and now I can see why: she definitely pushes her students with way she structures the intervals and builds up the workout.  I was fairly confident in my ability to survive the class aerobically, and I did fairly well in that department, but I did not anticipate the muscular fatigue I was going to need to endure.  By the end of Tina Turner’s Proud Mary, my legs were jello. I never realized how many times Tina screams “Rollin’ down the river!”  I now fear that chorus.

Debbie said I did pretty well, minus making it a bit harder on myself by accidentally leaning too far forward when standing.  I thought it was a great workout, and Debbie’s style and music selection were incredible.  (Thanks for squeezing in the De La Soul, Debbie!)  I’d definitely recommend her to anyone looking for a good spin class in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis river running

4.62 miles in 47:29 @ 10:16 pace and 154/171 bpm for 644 calories

My sister Debbie and her fiancé Tim picked up Emma, Joanne, and I at the airport Friday evening, and after a great first full day in Minneapolis on Saturday, Debbie and I decided to plan a Sunday morning run.  She’s talked often about her run along the Mississippi River through downtown Minneapolis and I really looked forward to seeing it.  We left from my hotel at 7:00am and ran down to the river and across two bridges, including a beautiful foot bridge near St. Anthony Main.  Then we ran underneath the new I-35 bridge that was built after last year’s collapse.  Construction work seemed to be mostly finished but the path was still blocked off.  That didn’t stop Debbie from banditing us onto the new walkway by finding the opening where other runners had flattened the barriers!  Overall it was a blast to run with my sister in her hometown and get a tour of her ‘hood.  (Yes, she was able to give a complete guided tour while running at my typical pace.)