Ice bath

Hogeye 1/2 Marathon Redux

I swore after last year that I wouldn't return to do this 1/2 marathon, but here I am writing up the race report.....Yeah, not consistent, lol. It did take me a full 4 days to recover from the CCC 10k/long run combo that I did last weekend so I decided that since this is such a brutal course for me that I would treat it as a training run. This is also the longest distance that I've ran since last November. I do have some nagging re-occurring injuries that I'm trying to baby while also building my mileage base back up. Hopefully, if I ease into the base slowly enough they will be resolved.




Ankle is still improving but the plantar fasciitis in my left foot continues to nag at me :-(. As a result I've been avoiding hill training running because it does aggravate the hell out of both. The cycling is a different story. I've already discussed how I keep the trainer tension on my back wheel tightened up to the point where it feels like the whole session is going uphill and I've resumed my outdoor rides which of course are not flat, lol. The cycling is going awesome this year and I think it's the reason that I was able to complete the past couple of races as well as I have with the lack of consistent running miles since the Midsouth Marathon last November.



As a matter of fact, I went for a 46.91 mile ride yesterday with some very strong riders on one of the hilliest routes in the area and still felt great afterwards. Even this morning my legs didn't feel fatigued. My running issues by the way have nothing to do with my leg strength, it's the damn feet and ankles holding me back. Cycling gives me the aerobic & strength workouts I'm needing without the pounding on my feet. So I'm going to continue upping the intensity & length of those sessions while trying to get in an elliptical session once a week in the hopes that will keep me somewhat uninjured.



So back to today....Unfortunately no points because the full was the grand prix race this time, sigh.....Oh well, I suppose I'll survive, lol!!! Started out kinda chilly but not overly so. Actually my race the temperature stayed great, those running the full had a different outcome, it became HOT for them. I did have a tweetup yesterday & today with Sweet Daddy D, that was so cool!!!!!!!



First mile was too fast (so what else is new) but after that I kind of settled into a rhythm and managed to catch up with Susan, a Cabot Cruiser and spent most of the rest of the race chatting with her, enjoyed it so much :-), made the miles fly by. My only goal for this 1/2 was to survive it and enjoy myself and for the most part I accomplished that, yay!!! Walked a handful of the waterstops & generally chatted with as many people as I could that wanted to talk. On the last couple of miles talked to a guy that when I introduced myself as Gabby, he asked my last name, when I told him, he said "I've heard of you, you're famous! You're an excellent runner". Shocked me, didn't know that I was talked about in that way and it was kinda flattering although I don't consider myself to be that excellent or fast. I am a front of the pack mid-packer when I'm not fighting injuries so no, not quite fast.



I really surprised myself today, there were a few places where the energy flagged but those monster hills coming back--I didn't have to walk 'em. Now mind you, I'm pretty sure a walker could've passed me I was slogging up them so slow but I DIDN'T HAVE TO WALK THIS YEAR!!!! And the beer stop? Yeah, I stopped & grabbed a cup this year although it was just one sip, LOL!!!



Splits

Mile 1 8:57 (too fast)

Mile 2 9:02 (still faster than I wanted)

Mile 3 8:55 (uh, what the heck?!!!!)

Mile 4 9:02

Mile 5 9:07

Mile 6 9:11

Mile 7 9:34 (this is where I should've been all along for a training run)

Mile 8 9:12

Mile 9 9:50 (coming back into the hills)

Mile 10 9:32

Mile 11 10:20 (big hill!!!)

Mile 12 10:07

Mile 13 9:29

Mile 13.1 2:10

Here's a link to the elevation chart for the 1/2 marathon


Total per garmin 2:04:28 for 13.2 miles. Last year's time was 2:01:34 and I was miserable the entire 2nd half of the race. So yeah, I will take the approximately 3 minutes slower this year and OWN it. I felt better during and afterwards & had fun!!! Didn't set out to race, planned all along this week that it would be a training run & I accomplished that in a not too shabby amount of time.



A huge shout out to all my friends who completed a grueling marathon in warm temps & especially to Marla who completed her first marathon today!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!!!! Actually Marla can claim ultra status since they got led off course & she ended up with 27.43 miles :-).

Obligatory

So here's where the inherently lazy kicks in. I've been awake since
before dawn in order to get my run (5.71 miles) in before my work day
started. Explored a new section of Breaux Bridge, La in doing so.

I then drove, and drove, and drove so more spending the first 1/2 of
the day in a very foul mood. Made my delivery inLaredo, hooked up to
my new trailer and am now due north somewhere.

Now going to sleep listening to AFI's Prelude 12/21....kiss my eyes
and lay me to sleep

Sent from my iPhone

Gnarly

Day 2

Very tired & this morning was close to be a disaster...transmission
issues this morning that fortunately was solved by finally finding a
place to park, shutting the truck off & allowing the computer to reset
itself.

Left out of Pulaski & the truck shifted just fine until it hit 10th
gear then it just wouldn't go into gear properly. Truck kept surging
where the automatic transmission kept trying to "find" the gear. I
could slow down, flip to manual & it would go into 9th but 8th was
same as 10th, grrrr. Actually when I limped the truck into the rest
area on the Alabama state line it was trying to 'skipshift' from 8th
to 6th to 3rd & this tranny just isn't supposed to do that. Like I
said though it was solved by shutting down for 5-10 minutes.

After that was a traffic backup with a detour by me that ended up
being a comedy of errors of sorts, due to construction on hwy 67,
etc.....

Then I finally make it to Falkville to fuel and the card reader on the
fuel pump is out which necessitates 2 trips inside to stand in line.
Boom, another 30 minutes gone as well as my shower time, yuck :-(.

So all should be well right? Nope. Had an Alabama based truck that
didn't like the fact that I was doing the speed limit in the city
limits so at the very last minute (before the road narrows down to 2
lane) he passes me. The issue? Well, on the curvy 2 lane sections
where I can't pass, he does BELOW the posted speed limits. When we get
to areas where I can pass, he sped up. ARGHHH!!!!

I finally arrive at Gadsden with 20 minutes to spare & my load has
been ready for quite a while....I could have had a head start towards
Laredo if it hadn't been for all the other delays, lol. Fortunately
the rest of the day went smoothly. And what a beautiful day it was,
yay!!

Seen on the road

Experiment

So should I try for a short update every night or continue with the
larger posts on the weekend? Gonna experiment so please let me know
what y'all prefer. But then again this may fizzle because I am
inherently lazy.

Another late start but this was due to the International shop not
being done with Lola the truck. Actually I'm lucky they were open with
it being Easter Sunday & all.

Workout today was a very easy brick session due to my quadriceps still
being sore from yesterday. Just over 14 miles easy spin on the trainer
for 60 minutes followed up with an even easier 5k run (slog?) around
the neighborhood with James & Elsie

2nd race of the year

The Capitol City Classic 10k.......I ran the race to the best of my ability today so why the hell do I feel so let down? Made a tactical error, is why :-(.  Because this is the 5th week back of running for me and I wasn't sure how I would hold up on a 10k race I decided to start near the back of just over 500 racers on a non-chip timed race.  Yeah, brilliant move and it would have been ok if I wasn't so damn competitive. 

I knew there was no way I would touch last year's time of 51:50. 2009 up until November was an absolutely great year as far as my training and how I felt so it's gonna be hard to top that again.  Last year was also great weather, a little cooler and not near as windy or humid. This year has just sucked--it seems like it's been one injury after another. The major sprain of the right foot near the end of January plus the stupid plantar fasciitis has returned with a vengeance on the left foot.

So yes, starting closer to the back did keep me from jackrabbiting as bad as I normally do.

Me joking around that they better get a picture now 'cause I wasn't gonna look so good at the finish line.

First mile was 8:17, a bit fast but livable.
2nd mile 8:26 closer to what I should be
3rd mile 8:33 still slowing but ok
4th mile 8:38 starting to fatigue & the nigglings of stomach cramps
5th mile 8:38 yeah, stomach is starting to go south, cramping more
6th mile 8:34 I think I'm gonna puke
6-6.2 (or .27 because I started so far back) 2:12 I'm dying. which is what you should be doing at the end if you've pushed hard. Came upon James & Steve and was asked "is that the best you can do?". my reply "it's all I got"

Don't let the smile fool you. I'm about to throw up, the grimace is 'cause I was being yelled at by somebody with a camera

James literally thought I was gonna pass out at the finish line I was so pale (underneath the red!). So yes, this 10k got all I had for now. I am not disappointed in my performance at all, just in my decision to start where I did.

So why the grumbling? I placed 7th in my age group. If I had started a bit closer to the front I might, just might have placed a bit further up. Now isn't that the stupidest thing ever to be disappointed about when I ran this to the best of my ability today.  Honestly, it's the 5th week back and I'm being a whiny little bitch about placing 7th in the age group, grrrr. It's my own fault for starting where I did.  I knew it was a non-chip timed race & that would count against me. I even had several friends question me about it so really, nobody's to blame but myself. Too damn competitive by far for this early in my return. 

However despite my continuing anxiety about getting my speed/mileage/endurance built back up, this is a fairly decent result. A nice little test, so to speak.

Final numbers
53:17 (my garmin)/53:22 their time
45/256 Female
212/543 Overall
7/45 female 40-44 age group

Another grumble here (and a collective groan goes out). My garmin showed 53:17. I started it immediately instead of waiting for the actual start point. The clock at the finish line read 53:17.  My official time is the time it took to walk through the finish line chute to turn in my teartag behind all the other people turning in their teartags!!!!!!!!  And they admitted there was a problem with the results--timing, order, etc. GRRRRR.

Since I needed to get 10 miles in this week for my long run I decided to get it done today. Grand total of 10.94 miles! Shoot, this has been my longest run since..........looking it up now, lol............did a 10.02 miler January 7th......this is my longest run since the marathon at Wynne November 7 of last year.  So can I survive the Hogeye 1/2 on 4/11?

spring in the step II

Other post was getting long so splitting it up.

Running is, well, it's going but it just seems like I'm not getting my speed/mileage/endurance built back up quite as rapidly as I would like. However the cycling seems to be going extremely well. The turbo trainer is a horribly hellacious tool but OMG it does work if you have the tension cranked up on the rear wheel like I do. Basically it feels like I'm climbing a hill or in the big gear mashing for the entire trainer session. So while it looks like my trainer times are very slow it's not taking into account the amount of effort being put forth. As a result once I get outside, I'm kicking some ass & feeling like I'm not putting out hardly any effort, YAY!!

Workouts from this week

Sunday--8.24 mile run in 1:25:06. Some walk breaks due to stomach issues (again!).  First 5ish miles were with James & Elsie. Splits 10:04, 11:38, 10:50, 11:03, 10:20, 10:05, 9:30, 9:20, 2:10 (.24 mile, 9:03 pace).  Windy & warm.

Monday--1 mile walk/hike up the water tower hill road with James & Elsie

Tuesday--Lunchtime run at Brookshire, TX. Parked at the Flying J & explored the town on the north side. Excellent place to run, lots of tree-covered streets & people were very friendly.  4.31 miles in 39:13. stomach issues yet again, sigh, had to walk .25 of a mile........Hot & windy. Splits 8:58, 8:46, 9:46, 8:56, 2:44 (.31 miles, 8:47 pace). Bet you can't tell where I had to walk, lol!!

Wednesday--early morning hilly run in Cotulla, TX. did the frontage road loop twice + into town for a bit. 5.31 miles in 49:53. Very pretty morning but windy, even downhill sections didn't feel like I could get any speed.  stomach issues AGAIN!!!!!! grrr, gotta figure out what's causing it this time around.  Splits 9:29, 9:49, 9:40, 9:11, 8:58, 2:43 (.31 miles, 8:54 pace). Times do include a couple of walk breaks

Thursday--afternoon bicycle ride, 16.35 miles in 1:01:54. did the bike trail/airport loop. Felt great, was keeping a 18-20 mph average until I hit the section of trail that wasn't tree covered then the wind kicked in. Was getting knocked sideways quite a bit by the wind. Struggled to keep 12-13 mph in the headwinds on Queensway & frontage road. The hill I had trouble with last year, not so much yesterday *huge grin*. Stayed in the big ring up front, about 1/2 in the cassette in the back ring.  Buffy & I had a very good workout!!!

Picked up a flyer in Italy, TX for this event

I sent in my registration for the Tupelo 14.2 miler Labor Day weekend and also have registered for the Iron Mountain Duathlon on April 25th.  The Capitol City Classic is tomorrow & the Hogeye 1/2 marathon is 4/11. I'm completely unprepared for either, grrrr.

Ankle update--still a bit "weak" especially near the end of my work week. All that sitting & pushing the gas pedal is not doing it much good but it's still improving. Every week I do a high heel walk test & it's a bit easier each time :-). Running is ok for it though. My plantar fasciitis has made a return however, KHHHAAAANNNN!!!!!!!! Back to icing & the fitflops instead of barefoot in the house :-(. 

Warning: nonpaid product endorsement......I love, love, love KT Tape!!!!!! This stuff rocks and it comes in my favorite color--pink!  I've been using it for the sprained right ankle but had James wrap my left foot for the plantar fasciitis last Sunday, OMG it's like a major sole-saver :-))))). Umm, KT Tape people, wanna endorse a middle of the pack runner who's a truck driver? ;-).

If you haven't checked out Runnrgrrl's blog, do so immediately!!!!!!! Warning, not for the weak of heart or easily offended..........she's incredibly hawt, fast, intelligent, opinionated, amusing, not afraid to say what she thinks, all-around rock star! 

I just wanna wish a very Happy Birthday to The Wondering Brit, who's gonna grumble at me yet again (so what else is new or different, LOL). 

spring in the step

Am I starting to detect a slight lifting in the mood? Perhaps so.......I'm still disappointed in James for his recent reactions/behavior but I'm not overwhelmingly angry like I was. Even so, can't say I'm happy either.  

hmm, what was interesting about this work week?  First off the parts load turned "hot" again, grrr. And I keep expecting them to add a 3rd pickup onto the load since the trailer has only been 1/2-3/4 way full lately.  While I can still legally get it to Laredo on time by the time they want it, it doesn't leave much lee-way for any measurable delays. I'm usually getting the load actually dropped by 1930 when they want it by 2000 but that's after spending 45-90 minutes waiting in lines at our yard, traffic, & waiting in line again at Penske. So yeah, if they want it there earlier, they need to find a way to expedite the queue delays!!!  Also, I10 across Louisiana & Texas is very well known for their DOT checks so I'm NOT pushing my logbook for this. The company won't pay any fine related to that so no way in hell am I risking my license & pocketbook.  As it was this week found me having to use the very limited split sleeper birth option.  Oh, to admit some naughtiness--my 2 hour sleep time in the middle of the day was spent getting a run & lunch in. No way could I sleep & wasn't going to sit there twiddling my thumbs & staring at the sleeper walls.  Stupid HOS regulations allow extremely little flexibility now.

Hwy 78 found a bit of a delay for me on the way to Gadsden, a Swift driver was having mechanical problems on a very hilly stretch (lol, what isn't hilly on that section!) with narrow lanes & no way to pass. He was down to 5 mph going up the hills & 35mph on the downside. That is a nightmare of mine, the thought of being in that driver's position.  Some stupid ass going the other direction was very rude about the Swift truck when telling somebody else about what was going on. I got on the cb & told him there was absolutely no need in being rude like that when somebody was having truck trouble. Either he's just a jackass in all aspects of his life or he hasn't been driving long enough to have found himself in that position.  And if you drive a truck long enough, it WILL happen at some point.  Anyways after Swift found a place to pull over he thanked me for being patient & sticking up for him. No need for thanks, it's just the way we all should act but it was nice being acknowledged :-).

Speaking of truck trouble, Lola is visiting the International dealer this weekend to see if the rough idling/intermittent smoking/warn engine/air loss problem can be isolated. I tweeted yesterday that she was going in to have her smoking addiction cured, lol!  The apu also needs to be worked on again, last week there was no cold air blowing when the ac was on, this week there was no heat & no cold ac.......Of course last weekend they just charged the freon (understandably doing the simplest thing first so not whinging). Think the water valve prolly needs replacing on the unit. 

Border Patrol big truck? And warm weather is here, VERY buggy windshield, yuck!

new ink

quick update here....Thursday I finally went down to 7th Street Tattoos to get the 4 leaf clover on my tummy reworked (approx. 12 years old) and had a bit more added around it :-). 

bad lighting & was taken with my phone, once it's all healed up, I'll add another picture. But yeah, finally added a 26.2 to the collection.  While there I also had my nose re-pierced :-). Seemed to hurt & bleed much less than it did the first time thankfully.  Oh, the new ink was done by Brandon, who did a very nice job with the design and inking. I'd just forgotten how darn much getting tattooed hurt, lol.

Spring?

I should be sleeping right now because this load of parts has turned hot but wanted to get this out before I forgot.....Today, 8 days before April, northern Alabama was getting snow. It wasn't sticking in the lower elevations but oh man was it coming down. 

This picture in no way does the day justice because the snow had eased up by the time I was walking into the fuel stop for my shower but you can somewhat see the snow flakes.

The plant at Pulaski got me out a little earlier than normal so I took advantage of that to stop at the Love's fuel stop in Falkville, AL to get in as I put it on twitter "a quick & dirty 3 miles". I usually stop here to grab a shower but had been eyeballing the streets around the fuel stop thinking it would be a great place to run and was I ever correct!!!! Beautiful little area, managed to get to the downtown area quite easily to check it out and what traffic there was gave me plenty of room.

The best thing though was the snow!!!! Yeah, the snow I was grumbling about inside the cab of my truck became just utterly magical and beautiful once I was out running in it. Big, fat, fluffy snow flakes coming down so thickly it was like being in a snow globe. Sigh............It was one of the best runs I've ever experienced. I'm sure if it had been actually sticking to the ground it wouldn't have been near as much fun but my oh my today was almost perfect. 

So yeah it was a quick run (3.13 miles in 26:54) but no way was it dirty *huge grin*

Brooks Running needs a truck driver

Brooks Running is looking for a truck driver who is also a runner!!!

I was in the interview process for this position but unfortunately had to drop out due to family issues and I gotta tell you it has completely bummed me out to do so. This is an awesome opportunity! It is an 8 month position that can be broken up into a 4 month stint if needed.  It would involve driving either a truck or bus to various marathons, race expos, running stores for demos, etc. There are a few other duties that are involved but like I stated before, it's an unbelievable opportunity.  If you're interested in this or know a cdl holder that is also a runner, please leave a comment or send me an email and I can give you the contact info.  Come on, I know I'm not the only running trucker out there and you can't find a better company than this that supports ALL athletes, not just the elites.

going to new heights

So how does one cap off a 30ish mile hilly ride? Well I decided to try out the rock climbing wall that they had set up in order to face my fear of heights :-). Not that the wall was extremely high but hey, a phobia doesn't necessarily make sense, lol.

Getting into the harness ;-)

Getting started

Almost to the top! What I haven't told you is that this is the easiest side of the wall!!!!!

Getting unsnapped after the easy side

Attempting the 2nd easiest side of the wall. Got stuck about 1/2 up, bummer!!!

65 Roses Tour

Today was an awesome new tour/bike ride benefitting cystic fibrosis that was largely sponsored and organized by my local bike shop and adopted family, Bike City and several of the great riders around Searcy.  Unfortunately, I have had my head stuck in my own little depressed world and had absolutely nothing to do with helping.  I must say everybody did a fantastic job!! Great crowd support, the local police and fire departments provided fantastic traffic control (except for Beebe), yummy food, and just all around fabulousness :-). 

Back side of the shop jerseys, one of the Mike H.s modeling it.

Back side of the Tour t-shirt (it's not white, yay!!!)

I literally waited until the day before to register. Why? Because of my general dumbassery lately (well actually over the past several months). Fortunately I'm working through most of that, I hope so anyway. SAD is a brutal thing when it hits me as hard as it has this winter. Combine that with family problems and injuries and you get the picture.

Since I've done practically no training I went ahead and opted for the 30 mile route. I figured that since I've ridden the trainer quite a bit since January, that would at least be doable. It actually ended up being more than doable, I felt great afterwards :-).  That tension being cranked up strengthened my legs more than I realized.

Weather decided to cooperate and remain mild despite the predicted thunderstorms, yay!!!! Nice crowds, I think Duane said that 207 people had pre-registered (?) so VERY good turnout for a first time tour.  Started out slow because I had done no warmup ride and it always seems to take me at least 3-5 miles to get my legs loosened up and ended up near the rear of the pack.  Once I got to where I decided my legs were loose enough, took off and attacked the hills. Surprisingly I never had to go into the little ring up front although it was iffy a time or 2, lol.

Oh to back up a minute, James didn't ride today and he was asked to help out with SAG wagon duty on the 30 mile route. He was the one in the white Dodge pickup going back & forth checking on people when they stopped.

A few times (well more than a few) we had people that would intentionally crowd us with their cars or pickups when there was no reason to do so but overall the vast majority of motorists were very polite and gave us plenty of room.  As I stated before all of the intersections were very well manned by the local police & fire departments, got the traffic stopped in plenty of time and were very encouraging. Cyclists, if you're not saying thank you to these guys when they do this, shame on you!!!!  The only snafu was at Beebe at the 4 way stop where we made our turn onto Hwy 64 and I don't think the officer there was paying quite close enough attention and/or didn't know how to handle traffic control for a ride or race. I ended up having to stop as did several others that went through there.

I ended up only making 2 stops, neither of which should have happened. The first was the Beebe incident, the 2nd was having to rezip my bento box after getting a gel out. Don't ask me why I didn't have 'em in my jersey pocket. I know better, grrr.

Hwy 64 is also where I started hitting some wind. It's open through there and I was all by my lonesome :-( so no one to trade drafting duties with....It took me a while before I finally caught up to the next guy in front of me but did going up the hill that Gary R. calls Evil Hill. Very steep!!! I was down to 6mph before hitting the top but didn't have to shift to granny ring up front although if the darn thing had gone on much long longer I was going to have to! I passed that guy here but what goes up must come down and he was not exactly a small man.  Even though I was down in aero-position and scrunched down as low as possible he still zoomed back by me half-way down the hill.  I was still able to reel him back in and for the last 4 miles pretty much stayed within 50 feet of him. Finished approx. 8-10 feet off his wheel :-)

This brings me to a major complaint I have about mp3 players while cycling. I tried to talk to this guy and he never heard me. If you can't hear somebody talking to you, how the hell can you hear traffic? and what happens if somebody needs to warn you of a road hazard?  Even if you just use one earbud while cycling you have to have the volume cranked up so high to hear anything that everything else gets drowned out around you. Not safe!!!!!!!!!!!

Honestly felt great afterwards and prolly could have done the 50 mile route although not quite as easily. Ended up keeping a 16.78 mph ave. slow start and hills included. Not bad for practically no training this year :-). 

This is what a half asleep, really don't wanna be smiling for the camera, cold Gabby looks like before a ride. Scary, huh? LOL!!!!!