Week 3 - Ho Ho Hauling Along

First and foremost so many thanks to everyone who made my holidays a little brighter with a

Practicing for April at the Marathon exhibit at Faneuil Hall

donation to my Boston Marathon fundraising page - Meg G., Nicola M., my brother Paul and his lovely girlfriend Lydia and an anonymous donor (you know who you are!).  THANK YOU!

If you've been thinking about making a donation, I encourage you to do so before January 1 so it will be tax deductible for 2014! You can make a gift here.

Also, don't forget that tickets to my Lori Runs Boston Fundraising Party are now on sale! The event will be held on Sunday, February 8 from 2-4pm at the American Fresh Taproom. Tickets can be purchased online here.

Hauling Butt Over the Holiday

Oddly enough, the holidays held me back from getting out and running the way I should have last week.  As I mentioned in that wrap-up post, I used it as an opportunity to rest my knee knowing what future weeks hold in store for it!  It was clear, however, that I couldn't allow myself another week off if I want to stay on schedule for my training.  I wanted to get more miles in this week, but also didn't want to go from 0 to 60 because that could be just as dangerous so I opted for a middle of the road approach to the week.

I decided last minute to take Christmas Eve off of work so I could relax, watch some holiday movies, sleep in and yes - get a run in! It was a rainy mess outside, but it's winter so it's not a very good excuse to not get my butt in gear.  I had thought about going to the gym and doing my miles on the treadmill, but honestly by the time I walked to the gym I was going to get wet anyway, so I just tossed on my hear and hit the pavement. 

Turns out crappy weather is a pretty good motivator and I did my 3 mile loop around the Mystic River Reservation at an average 9:06 minute mile - pretty fast for me!  After my run, I took a shower and proceeded to make banana pudding and homemade Snickers bars for Christmas so I'm not going to break my arm patting myself on the back for working hard :)

Christmas day brought SIXTY DEGREE TEMPERATURES!  Can you even believe it? I met my friend Dani for a 3 mile run at 8am and was totally perplexed about what to wear.  It was raining but soooo warm.  I opted for a sweat wicking tank, my lightweight Slumbrew pullover, holiday themed running tights ($16 at TJ Maxx) and the requisite Santa hat OVER my actual running cap.  It might have been a little too much, since I was pretty darn hot my the time we finished.

We did our run around the Mystic River - are you sensing a pattern here?  We are both really lucky to live so close to an almost perfect running spot. A loop around the area closest to where we live is pretty much 3.1 miles so you have a lovely 5k loop completely uninterrupted by streets and crosswalks. In the spring and summer I would run this loop and count how many bunnies I could find chomping on the grass along the river (seriously counted almost 30 on a run last spring!).  You can add some extra miles to the loop by going under a few different underpasses or making a second loop.  It's really easy to not get too creative with routes when you're blessed with something so easy right around the corner.  The downside to this awesome location is that it's not a route you want to run after dark.  Not that it's necessarily known as a dangerous place, but it's not well lit and, you know, safety first! I have no desire to end up a Law & Order SVU episode!

After our run (thanks for going slow with me, Dani!) we enjoyed our Christmas morning Slumbrews! What? You don't start drinking at 9am on a holiday?  Phst! You're missing out!  It was great to spend some time talking running shop with Dani who has so much experience as a runner and blogger. I always feel like I learn something new from her. I am hoping to tag along with her Tedys Team folks a few times over the coming months for some long runs because let's face it - embarking on a 20 mile run alone just seems like a nightmare!

She also gave me a sweet Sparkly Soul headband to test drive since I was complaining that my head is weirdly small and headbands just tend to roll back and fall off.  The verdict: it was awesome! Job well done, Dani! I am now a Sparkly Soul devotee :)

Long Run Recap

I took a break from running on Friday and Saturday to give me knee a rest and gear up for my Sunday long run.  My training plan said to scale back to 6 miles this weekend, but I knew I could do more and since I hadn't been doing as much during the week I really felt like a 10 miler was a better option.

I woke up to rain, rain, rain!  I made a pot of coffee and listened to the weather before gearing up.  When they said the rain would end by 11, I decided to wait to go out and just enjoy a lazy morning.  By the time the skies started to clear it was 46 degrees outside and once again I felt baffled at having to dress myself. When it's hot outside it's easy - tank and shorts.  When it's freezing outside it's easy - base layer (or two), jacket, tights, gloves and hat.  This in between stuff is totally perplexing.  Do I wear a hat or will it make my head sweat too much?  Gloves? What do I do with them if my hands get too hot? OH MY GOSH WHY IS THIS SO HARD!?

I put on my brand new Big Island Running Company t-shirt that I got as a Christmas present, and a lightweight Old Navy running pullover with a pair of lightweight running tights.  I decided to skip the hat and gloves since my pullover didn't have pockets.  Thank goodness, I made very very good choices.  It was a brilliant temperature for a long run but if I had anything heavier on I would be been overheated.

For my long run this week I decided to take a route I got to know really well when training for my half marathon.  I ran from my house to the Minute Man Bike Trail into Arlington Center and back again.  I'm not sure how well cleared the bike trail will be when (if?) snow and ice set in so I figured I'd take advantage of it's nice scenery, minimal intersections and dearth of other runners and bikers.  When you get to Arlington Center on the trail you can either turn around and go back or cut across a few streets and continue on.  By the time I got there, I had done just over 4.5 miles so I decided to turn around and make up the extra half mile by looping around the Mystic River Watershed (yes, the Mystic strikes again - this time in Cambridge). 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little run loop. I love running over the wooden walkways.  I love getting to see all kinds of pretty birds (fewer in the winter than the summer, but I saw to gorgeous cardinals bopping around the trees) and the occasional small woodland creature. I love that there is a little part of the path that is sand - a nice break from all of the pavement.  It's just a  really lovely little area. Since I didn't have a whole lot of mileage to add, I did a quick loop around the watershed and back onto the path, past Alewife Station and onto Davis Square and home.  I don't really like stopping to snap photos when I run (momentum is key for me), but I when I saw these pretty pops of red berries along the brown and grey of the park, I just needed to capture it.  While I was stopped, I took a few more photos to show what makes this area so appealing - hopefully you can see why!

A Discrepancy

For the second long run in a row, I wore both my watch and used Runkeeper.  Last week, my watch lagged behind the app and this week it was the reverse.  I'm thinking I might have started running before my phone's GPS was able to locate me, but I don't know for sure.  All I know is that Runkeeper was about 6/10 mile off from my watch so when I finished the app said I had only done 9.46 miles - LIES! I know it was the app that was off because of how many times I ran this same route over the summer and fall. I know where I fall on the route around the first
mile marker and Runkeeper didn't interrupt the melodic voice of Ira Glass until long after that point.  Also, it told me I ran one mile in 16 minutes and I have NEVER run a 16 minute mile...I mean you're kind of just walking at that point right?  I'm not picking on anyone for being slow, but a 16 minute mile is beyond comprehension to me.  Anyway, there's a discrepancy between my watch and phone, but I chose to follow my watch this week.  Sometimes too much technology is a bad thing!

 Lessons Learned, Forgotten and Learned Again

I guess I was so preoccupied with what to wear that I forgot perhaps THE most important thing for a long run - fuel!!!! That's right, everyone.  Yours truly went for a 10 mile run without water or fuel of any kind.  Hello!? McFly!?! Uhg.  I learned this lesson months ago when I was training for my half marathon.  I cannot make it through a run longer than 9 miles feeling good without gummies or gu or SOMETHING to give me a little boost a long the way and forgetting to bring water was insane.

I re-learned this lesson around the 8.5 mile mark when I was starting to drag butt a little.  I was going past the athletic fields near the Alewife T stop when I remembered that there were water fountains there.  "Yes!" I thought.  Well, no actually.  I guess they turn off the water fountains in the winter so morons who forget hydration in December are out of luck.  By the time I was running my final mile along Medford Street, I felt like my legs were made out of cement and I was desperate to get to a corner store and pick up a Gatorade (I did remember to toss a few dollars in my pocket, just in case).  When my GPS watch beeped at mile 10 I felt the great relief of stopping.  I miscalculated my distance a little and needed to walk the rest of the way home, which was a fine little cool down.  I took a few minutes to stretch my legs, which HURT and got to the closest store as quickly as I could and downed some Gatorade.  Sweet, sweet Gatorade.

Anyway, remember kids - don't forget fuel and hydration! SERIOUSLY.