Lisa Sabin’s - Running And Being

It was a beautiful sunny day and I stepped outside to take out the garbage. Murphy, our golden retriever puppy stared at me with his paws up against the window as I tried the door. He wasn’t able to let me in. I locked myself out! Phil was supposed to be out late. The kids weren’t due home for 2-3 hours. I didn’t have my cell phone. I had just let Murphy out onto the back deck, so I knew the door was unlocked. I lifted myself up onto the garage and pulled myself up to the upper roof. I carefully made my way across the roof and contemplated jumping onto the deck. This would require me hanging from the gutter and I’m not sure it would sustain my weight. I thought about scooting off my butt and just jumping, this might risk ankle damage. I spotted the trampolene. My kids used to jump off the deck onto the trampolene when I wasn’t looking. They also jumped from the trampolene, grabbed the deck and climbed up. Hmmmm. I’m 42, not 16, so I don’t really feel comfortable trying to jump and grab the deck railing. I decided to get off the roof and try climbing onto the deck. I managed to climb up one of the poles of the trampolene. I precariously placed one foot on the top of the trampolene pole and grabbed the railing of the deck. I was able to pull myself up enough to get my other foot up onto the deck. Then I had to pull my body up and over the railing. Somehow I managed to do this without breaking any bones. My left hip isn’t very happy though. I may need a chiropractic adjustment! Oh well, at least I got in.

I’m down to my weight goal for Boston. Originally, I wanted to drop 5 lbs to help me increase my speed and make running easier on my body. A few less lbs to carry up the hill was the idea. Now the trick is to maintain this weight. I may drop a couple more, through the training. The miles are starting to add up so it could happen without to much effort. We are cleaning up the junk food around the house, because Phil is in training for Mt. Shasta. He wants to drop some weight too. The only problem is when the teenagers come over they want pizza and ice cream. It takes a lot of discipline to resist indulging in that stuff!

Here is how I did it:

I have increased my mileage through my training, so I’m burning more calories. I cut starchy carbs and simple sugars from my diet. That means no chocolate, no deserts etc. I reduced the amount of latte’s by about 50%. I’ve been eating organic oatmeal, a protein shake with banana or ezekiel bread with a poached egg in the morning. Lunch is usually a salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with some pecans and goat cheese or some form of protein. Dinner has been sockeye salmon and broccoli, asparagus or spinach salad. If I am hungry I throw in an organic apple or banana. I’m also drinking about 48-64 ounces of water. I love San Pellegrino. The day before a long run or race I eat more carbs. I include a multigrain bagel and some whole wheat pasta. This seems to be working for me.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/27/2008
• Time: 16:00:00
• Total Time: 00:34:20.00
• Average Heart rate: 158
• Max Heart rate: 169
• Calories: 300
• Distance: 4 miles
• Average Pace: 8:35.02/mile

I haven’t had the chance to do my 800m repeats on the track until today. The track at the high school is rubberized and really nice. I didn’t want to wait until after school hours to run, so I ran up the Evergreen field and used the cinder track there. There’s a bit of slippage that occurs, and I’m sure it impacts speed. It’s better than the treadmill though.

After reading Daniel’s Running Formula, I’ve decided to try running my 800 m slower. My marathon goal time is 3:50. So today I tried to run 3:45 for my Yazzo’s. 1)3:47 2)3:43 3)3:44 4) 3:45. I jogged 400 m in between repeats. I’m still a little tired from Saturday’s race. I think I could’ve done a couple more repeats, but didn’t push it.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/26/2008
• Time: 11:22:55
• Total Time: 00:41:50.00
• Average Heart rate: 160
• Max Heart rate: 170
• Calories: 375
• Distance: 5 miles
• Average Pace: 8:22.09/mile

Today was a recovery run.  I just wanted to go out for an easy run and stretch.  I’ll lift weights tomorrow.  When I saw how close I was to 200, I decided to go for a run.  It was such a nice day!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/24/2008
• Time: 12:00:00
• Total Time: 00:35:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 156
• Max Heart rate: 166
• Calories: 300
• Distance: 4 miles
• Average Pace: 8:44.78/mile

I’m stoked!  We couldn’t have asked for better weather.  It was 65 degrees and sunny.  I’ve been really worried about this race because it would be a good indicator of my fitness.  I was afraid that my pace would take a huge dive going from 10 miles to 15 miles.  I’ve lost about 3 pounds over the course of my training.  I noticed this last week that I didn’t feel really fresh.  Yesterday I drank a lot of water and increased my carbohydrate intake.  I feel like I’ve put in some good training, but I felt a little dehydrated and depleted of carbs.

My strategy for this race was to take more gel, so that my glycogen was topped off.  I started out with a new drink I found at Whole Foods called Recharge.  This drink doesn’t have any high fructose corn syrup.  I recently noticed that a lot of the sports drinks do.  I tossed a Nuun tablet, a calorie free electrolyte supplement into my recharge.  I took an accel gel at the start, and two more during the race.  My pace slowed a little on the way back of this out and back hilly course, but not too bad.  I ended up running a faster 10 mile than the 10 mile race a few weeks ago.  My half marathon time was faster than I’ve run since 2004.  I have confidence now that my training approach is working.  I’m looking forward to Boston now! 

Thanks Michelle and Andrea!  This series has been a lot of fun.  It’s great having these races scheduled into our training.  One more to go!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/23/2008
• Time: 09:00:00
• Total Time: 2:05:06.00
• Average Heart rate: 166
• Max Heart rate: 180
• Calories: 1098
• Distance: 15 miles
• Average Pace: 8:20.7/mile

Tomorrow is my 15 mile race. Unfortunately, I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night. I went to the movie “spirit of the marathon”. I’m feeling inspired now. On the way home I got a flat tire, which is why I didn’t get much sleep.
Today’s focus was to run easy, stretch and get hydrated. I am planning on going to bed early.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/22/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 00:27:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 158
• Max Heart rate: 168
• Calories: 210
• Distance: 3 miles
• Average Pace: 8:59.73/mile

Robyn is starting her training for Bloomsday. Today she needed some support, so I ran along side her for some easy miles.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/20/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 00:26:30.00
• Average Heart rate: 156
• Max Heart rate: 169
• Calories: 250
• Distance: 3 miles
• Average Pace: 8:50.19/mile

I have a full day today, so I decided to get up early and get a run in. Sometimes I’m able to run in between clients, but I really need an hour and a half to shower etc. I don’t want to cut my run short. So today that meant hitting the gym at 5am.

I have no trouble getting up early. Moving at 5am is another story. The first couple of miles were tough. I thought about only running 5 and then realized that Wednesday is busy and I wont have time to run as long. I am also thinking about my 15 mile race coming up on Saturday. I want to feel fresh. So, it made sense to get in 6 miles.

I’m a little nervous about this race. I’m kind of stuck in my head here. It’s just getting closer and closer to Boston and I don’t want anything to go wrong. I need to relax and just keep following my training plan. I think I need to get a massage too. My right hamstring felt tight this morning and my glutes are tight too.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/19/2008
• Time: 16:15:42
• Total Time: 00:51:45.00
• Average Heart rate: 148
• Max Heart rate: 166
• Calories: 505
• Distance: 6 miles
• Average Pace: 8:37.24/mile

Ran from my house down to Kenmore and back.  This is one of the tough courses I do when I want to challenge myself.  Michelle and I ran this course a couple weeks back, but added on to it to make it 12 miles.  Last time, I did a cool down mile with Murphy, my golden retriever puppy to make it 13.

Today was a beautiful day.  It was only 47 degrees, but the sun was shining almost like Spring.  I was a bit tired from a 9 hour volleyball tournament yesterday.  I felt like I was sleeping through the first few miles.  By the time I got to mile 3 I was feeling pretty good though. 

I still feel like I need to work on my gait.  I had plantar fasciitis on my left side.  Sometimes my left bicep tendon gets really tight after running.  I am starting to wonder why all this is going on on the left side.  I went to a biomechanics workshop last weekend.  One of the things I learned in the workshop is that if your body can’t rotate at a given joint, it will compensate by finding a way to rotate at another joint to get the rotation needed to accomplish the task.  I seem to have a weak external hip rotator on the left.  When my gait was analyzed, I internally rotated at the last moment before striking.  Another interesting thing I discovered in the workshop is that I actually pronate more on the right side.  Maybe I am trying pronate equally on the left, but it’s not happening, so I somehow try to make it happen by internally rotating at the hip and shoulder, to make up for the lack in my foot.  I’m speculating here.  It’s interesting what your body will do to get from point A to point B.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 02/17/2008
• Time: 10:30:00
• Total Time: 1:30:05.00
• Average Heart rate: 158
• Max Heart rate: 169
• Calories: 800
• Distance: 10 miles
• Average Pace: 9:00.54/mile
• Ascent: 760 ft

Phil and I did a fun workout Saturday morning. We knew that we’d be in a volleyball tournament all day, so it was good to do something before hand.

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 02/16/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 00:01:00.00