Urban Dare Columbus race report, and other musings

Life has kept me a little busy lately, in good ways, so this is going to be uncharacteristically short (as in -- here's what I can write while inhaling a hummus sandwich on my lunch break).

First up -- the Urban Dare Saturday. This was a fun event -- though it was more scavenger hunt, less dare. I did it with my buddy Jason. We had no idea what to expect when we got there, we were handed blue shirts to wear and told to await further instructions. There were about 80 teams.


First instruction: Run to the statue 20 feet away. That was easy. We got our other instructions -- all clues of places to go around downtown Columbus. In Columbus, I know where the statehouse is. And Einstein's bagels across from the statehouse. And... that's it.

Thanks to a glorious invention called the smartphone (I'm not cool enough for one, but Jason was) we got online and deciphered the clues, and plugged them into the GPS. They were all statues, restaurants and landmarks.

We got turned around a couple times, and almost ran 3 miles out of our way. We ended up having to run a mile back because we missed a landmark. We also had to stop a couple total strangers on the street and ask them to recreate this photo:

Beyond this, though, the "dares" were pretty pathetic. At most landmarks we just had to take a picture to prove we were there. At one we had to do a 3-legged race. At another we had to jump rope. Far from the rock climbing walls and stuff the event advertised! It was still a good day though.

The event was billed as 5-7 miles. I decided to be crazy and I went to MIT that morning and did 6 with Kim, and my hamstrings were screaming from Crossfit two days before. Thanks in part to my superior navigating skills, we ended up covering 9.3 (with lots of stops in between!). Our official time was 3:32 (there were many stops). Total was 15.3 miles for the day, giving me a 27 mile week, my highest since Cleveland.

I'll update later with some more links and stuff. In the meantime, a few other random musings:

New Rules of Lifting for Women Take 2

I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women program earlier this year, but abandoned strength training altogether when our mileage got really high. My friend Kim reminded me of it last week, so I decided to give it another shot, now that our weekday runs are back to 3-4 miles.

When I tried the program the first time, I made the mistake of using heavier weights right off the bat. The program starts with more reps and then decreases, and the weight is supposed to get heavier. Toward the end of the first set I would have had to lunge with 30 pound weights, and that was just asking for injury.

But, when your weekday runs reach 6-8 miles, it's not like you have much time for anything else, anyway!

I started with Stage 1 this week, and I don't feel like I did to badly. I was sore, but not to the extent I had last week when I was experimenting with a few other programs! I think, too, I started off with a reasonable amount of weight, so I have room to increase.

The thing I love about this program is that it is incredibly efficient. Each move works multiple muscles so it only takes a half hour max.

The nice thing about the Y is that the women's center has most of the equipment I need for this, so I don't need to wade through masses of muscley tattooed men to get a turn on the cross cable machine.

Here's what the first two sessions looked like. Squats and lunges were supposed to be body weight only, but that seemed too easy so I modified it.

TUESDAY: Stage 1 workout A
Squats 2 x 15 w/ 10 lb weights
Pushups 2 x 15 (I've lost a ton of upper body strength, these were hard!)
Seated row (cross cable): 2 x 15 @ level 5 (?)
Stepups 2 x 15 on bench w/ 5 lb weights
Jackknives on ball 2 x 8

FRIDAY: Stage 1 workout B
Deadlifts 2 x 15 @ 25
Lat pulldowns 2 x 15 @ 25
Shoulder presses 2 x 15 w/ 8 lb weights
Lunges 2 x 15 w/ 10 lb weights
Ball crunches 2 x 8

When the reps go down to 12 I'll probably keep the same weight on some, just because it will add up too quickly otherwise!

Yasso, Death Valley, 18 miles, and a very tired me

I won a book and got it autographed.

I've been neglecting my blog all week. I'm not dead. Actually, I'm in pretty good shape and quite healthy. Just been tired. And busy. In a nutshell, if I haven't been passed out exhausted, I've been packing up in hopes of finally leaving my crappy apartment. And, as much as I love MIT, I'm looking forward to finally getting off road at Alum Creek tomorrow.

First things first -- Bart Yasso spoke to MIT last week and he was amazing. He was so remarkable, had so many stories (Bare Buns run, Beth?)

And yea, I thought the Warrior Dash was crazy?  Bush league. He had some hilarious stories from the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile race through Death Valley.

After we got to run with Bart for a bit, which was just fantastic, though I really didn't get to talk to him, there is photographic evidence of the experience!

I'm the one in the blue jacket waving my arms.

Saturday's run was wonderful, but insane. It was our first 18-mile day. Me and another in our group, Bill, started out behind so we ran sub-9:00 miles to catch up with the rest of the 10:30s. We slowed to regular pace for awhile. Our group shrunk considerably after the halfs turned off, and we were down to 4 by the turnaround. Then someone took a spill, so I ran ahead with Bill from the group. We were definitely headed back fast -- we ended at a sub-10:00 pace. I also tried Gu, it wasn't bad.

Here are the splits: (There are a lot of splits)
8:23, 8:58, 9:32, 10:16, 11:06, 10:08, 10:24, 10:10, 10:12, 10:11, 10:12, 10:12, 9:59, 10:08, 9:43, 9:22, 9:12, 9:56.

That gave me 36 miles for the week, a new record.

I felt great during and after the run. I was feeling good through lunch, through my dentists appointment, through shopping at Easton. Took the dogs for a walk, relaxed and watched a movie, didn't even need my usual nap.

And Sunday morning... crash. Seriously, I woke up way late in immense pain. Everything hurt. And I was so tired. I remember lying on my couch, and the alarm went off to switch laundry, and it took a good half hour to get my lazy butt up to do it. Monday wasn't any better, getting out of bed to go to work was rough. I eeked out 3 miles on the treadmill at a 12:00 pace. I woke up Tuesday with random cramps in my legs. I took the day off. Wednesday I went 6 on the bike trail, felt good during and immediately after but the soreness came back. I felt good doing three with Lizzie the dog yesterday, but my knees were hurting after. Today I'm feeling better. I haven't done any lifting or spinning this week, and I only did one yoga class.

I'm giving up on New Rules of Lifting for Women until after my marathon, it's a good program but it's just too cumbersome right now. A friend in my pace group recomended a body weight routine I'm going to try (thanks Kim).

Thankfully, it's a taper week, so I just have 10 tomorrow, and I'll end at 22 for the week (as opposed to last week's 36).

Instead of going to MIT, I'm doing the Conquer the Creek Trail Run at Alum Creek tomorrow morning. I'm really excited, though I've been neglecting my hill training (another thing that's probably going to take a backseat until marathon day). I think it will be good for my legs to get off the pavement too. Tonight I'm headed over to the Banyan Leaf Spa at Cherry Valley Lodge for a massage, a Groupon deal. That will help too.

The race is 6.5 miles, so I'm meeting up with a friend I met at the Granville Winter Run for a 3.5 mile warm up. I've never been to Alum Creek before, should be fun.

Next week the long run is 18 again, then the week after is 10. I'm finally transitioning onto the proper training program!

I'm hoping to move very soon, my apartment is way too much for me. I've been sorting through everything I own and getting rid of a lot of stuff, trying to simplify. I want to stay with my landlord, plus I'm still under a lease, so I'm hanging tight until he has something else open up. I feel so unsettled right now, hopefully that will change soon! 

Cleveland Marathon... 57 days!

Freakishly springlike and loving it

On Wednesday, I ran in short sleeves. On Friday I ran in shorts. What a wonderful week in Central Ohio! It was a little colder today, but still a great day to be out.

This week was a fallback, 10 miles, and that did seem short compared to last week's 15 miler. The next 3 weeks are 14-16-18, yelp yelp yelp! I thought we were going a little fast but we ended with an average pace of 10:20.

755 calories burned on the run. 1150 consumed at Panera after (what happens when you say yes, I will take a delicious chocolate chip cookie for $0.99). Hear that, Panera? You won... this time.

Fleet Feet actually got a halfway decent picture of me... stole this from their Facebook page (I'm in blue):

(continued)

New Rules of Lifting for Women

I've been a little lost lately in terms of strength training, how much I should be doing, how much of it, etc... Mostly I just want to maintain where I am and build endurance. At least, that's what the marathon training books I've read say to do.

I was doing a little reading and heard good things about this book, The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I've gotten through the first two chapters and it makes a lot of sense so far. Picked it up at Barnes and Noble tonight, had a gift card to burn.

And, it doesn't make ridiculous promises like "in just 8 minutes" or "lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks" like, oh, almost every book on the shelf. In fact in the first chapter the book stated that the program was neither quick nor easy.

That little bit of honesty sold me on it.