Zooma, Zoom, Zoom...

A week and a half ago, I was back in Annapolis with another opportunity to do one of my favorite things....helping other women achieve their running goals.  For the third time, I was a pacer at Zooma Annapolis for the half marathon distance, which is enormously rewarding.

It all starts with entering the starting corral with a stick that shows the goal finish time you'll be guiding.  Women start asking you what that pace is, how you will achieve it, what the course is like, doubting whether they can keep up, knowing they'll rock it.  The questions and emotions are all across the board.

Then the starting gun blasts and you hit the pavement.  The first mile of a race is always tough, because you're getting the kinks out of your legs from standing in the starting corral, so I like to distract runners by asking where they are from, whether this is their first "fill in the blank distance" race, whether they have had the opportunity to explore the town.  Really anything to distract from the torture of the first mile. 

A little later on, I like to preview upcoming tough sections of the race to eliminate surprises.  On this course, the back half of the race is hills....no kidding, tough hills.  It can be a real bitch to hit those without having known about them in advance. 

I also like to play tour guide.  After all, this is Annapolis, one of the most amazing towns in the US....you wouldn't want to miss anything (just because you were panting and cursing your bad luck to sign up for a race that is almost always sweltering hot and humid).

When I get a few miles in, I also like to really start getting to know the folks around me.  Many racers have amazing, funny, or tragic reasons for strapping on their shoes and starting a race.  I enjoy learning about why runners run and drawing some of my own inspiration and motivation from them.

Back on course...the Zooma back half, which I already said was tough, include three U-turns, which are mentally tough for all runners, let alone novices.  Providing motivation to keep moving means digging deep and overcoming my own angst over U-turns (though they do allow me to see more of the runners on the course and wave to friends).

But the real fantastic part of pacing Zooma comes in the final mile.  Ladies are worn out.  They've just completed a grueling several miles of hills, the sun is starting to beat down, and all they want to do is be done with it, hitting the wine tent at the finish line.  Mentally and emotionally pushing runners through this part of the race can be tough, because I feel the same way they do (especially this year since all my own training has occurred in the desert where it's dry, not humid like the mid-Atlantic).

Then you make the right hand turn, see the Blue Angel looming in front of you and give the ladies one big "this is it....DO NOT LET ME CROSS THAT LINE BEFORE YOU!"  And they don't.

What means more to me than all the rest of it are the ladies who come up to you after the race and tell you they couldn't have done it without you, or that they've never gone so fast, or that the near constant "ladies, you've got this" gave them enough of a lift to meet their goals.  Almost nothing tops the feelings generated by the comments I receive from my runners after the finish line.  If you ever have a chance to pace a race, do it!

A note about my pacing philosophy:  Some pacers will hold a steady pace the whole race.  Some will go slower at the start to save energy for the end.  Because I only pace for races in Annapolis, my philosophy is focused on getting runners through that tough hill section, which appears in every race 10 miles and above - I like to push the runners about 5-10 seconds per mile faster than the average required split to bank time while the temps are still low, energy is still high, and runners aren't questioning the wisdom of entering a race with so many hills yet.  This bit of reserved time almost always gets used up once the heat of the day emerges, hills happen, and energy is sapped.  Then, as I stated above, I like to push my runners in the last couple hundred meters to leave me in the dust.  Frankly, leaving that last bit of energy out on the race course always boosts your pleasure at meeting your goal because you know you put everything you had into it.  And then, I try to loop back with as many of my group runners as I can find for high fives and "you rock"s. 

So, Lara, thanks for once again calling on me to serve as a pacer and to Lululemon for supplying the pacing team with great tops!  Come find me next time at the Annapolis Ten Miler in August!  Happy trails!!!

2017 miles to date:  719 miles

Observations:  I took a few days off from running after Zooma to heal a couple injuries that have been plaguing me this spring - both on the left side of my body.  As I launched into my own marathon training this week, I didn't want to be staring down at overuse injuries too early in training.  While the time off was helpful, I'm still watching the tendon near the calf and the tendons in the foot (last year's injury that landed me in a boot after Ragnar).  If they get any worse, I'm going to consult a sports doc to ensure I'm training safe.  No goal is worth laying yourself up for days, weeks, or even months....if need be, I can always defer the BQ to next year (I already deferred it from last year due to getting out of the boot only a week before my goal race).

MARATHON TRAINING WEEK ONE:

Monday - 5 mile repeats (completed on Tuesday)

Tuesday - 6 miles easy (ended up being 6 miles sustained hill workout Wednesday)

Wednesday - 5 miles tempo (turned into 5 easy on Thursday to compensate for two effort days)

Thursday - Off (well, you know I ran because I had to take Monday off)

Friday - 3-4 miles easy

Saturday - 10 mile long run

Sunday - Off

Running on the go...

Training and travel are a tough combination.  I've seen even the most dedicated of athletes skip workouts when on the road, often for silly reasons.  But, it doesn't have to be that way.

It's true...I did eat that bowl of goodness.

Yes, I sometimes skip a workout or two when on vacation.  Maybe even on a business trip.  But when that guilty voice in the back of my head reminds me that I opted to finish my dinner with the famous apple streudel at Café Schwarzenberg or that I spent most of the day sitting in conference rooms, I can't help but push myself into the gym even if it means getting in the miles on the dreadmill.

Oh yeah, traveling often means not running outside, either because it's not particularly safe, or I don't want to risk getting lost.  So, I spent two sessions on the dreadmill this week.  That's about all I can take before I have a flair up of my good old buddy - lower back pain...excruciating lower back pain.  And a little bit of boredom, that comes into play too.

But today, what a breath of fresh air.  Sometimes you find that spot on a business trip that gives you the freedom to stretch your legs and catch the sites in a beautiful city after a long day of meetings.  Today I got to run through The Hague - or Den Haag if you're a local.

My hotel offered a decently (we'll get to this in a minute) outlined map of several running routes based on distance.  Though none of them went through the section of town with the Parliament and Prime Minister's offices (some really cool buildings architecturally that sit along a canal as if built into the water...I got to see them during lunch), I did get to cruise through some residential areas and a couple of parks along canals.

Have I mentioned the weather yet?  Oh boy what a treat!  If you've been slogging through a central Maryland summer, you will understand the sigh of relief I released when I walked outside the hotel to run in 60 degree weather (and a slight sprinkle for the first part) with a nice stiff breeze coming in off the North Sea.  It felt like fall already, but with sunlight until 9pm.

While Den Haag isn't the tourist destination that Amsterdam is, it isn't without some pretty cool sites of its own, like a few museums, the OPCW and all the embassies/ambassador's residences.   Though honestly?, I wish the street signs were a bit easier to follow.  Yeah, that map the hotel handed out may have included street by street directions, but the map only included major streets, most streets turn into other streets, the signs aren't in obvious places and often only on one side of the road.  That said, I successfully fumbled my way along the route.

Ultimately, toward the end of my journey, I deviated from the route offered by the hotel so that I could plod along the narrow paths of one of the canals.  The canals provide a pretty break from the buildings and rowhouses, and are soothing in a way I don't have the words to describe.  I'm glad I made the detour to capture some of the spaces tucked away in one of the parks.

In other news that I like to categorize under "awesome," I've finally broken through whatever barrier sat between me and increasing my speed again.  I'm feeling like I'm finding my stride and it's all downhill from here (not really, actually I should say uphill because I'm a better uphill runner).  If this keeps up, I'm on the right path toward achieving one of my big speed goals.  So, I'm going to add today's fun run through Den Haag, to last week's two great races (including pacing the Annapolis 10-miler and conquering the brutal hills at Dreaded Druid) and the fact that I am caught up on my mileage for the first time this year (logged 145 miles running in August) and call it a win.

I'm hoping to ride this tidal wave of great running vibes through the fall racing season and come out on top.  Happy trails!!!

2015 miles to date:   824.77 miles

Observations:  Not to beat my own drum, but I feel like I'm killing it.  Aside from that dreaded back pain as a result of treadmill runs, everything else is holding together.  The added strength training sessions are also paying dividends.  I just may make it out of my overzealous fall racing schedule unscathed.  The one thing I need to do soon is buy new shoes.  I can feel this current pair beginning to give and I'll need time to break in another pair before the race season kicks into high gear.
 

Bayootiful....

Credit goes to my buddy Lara for this photo.  I didn't have my
phone with me, but she recently posted a photo from this
particular route through Bay Ridge...beautiful, right?
 

Can a Saturday get better than spending it do all your favorite things?  No.  Especially when the weather is in the 60s and the sun is shining.

After taking the diva to her gymnastics class today I offered to take her for a long run in the jogging stroller so that I could get in a few sunny miles.  My husband counteroffered.  He recommended we go to Quiet Waters Park so the diva could ride her bike and expend vast amounts of energy on the playground while I expended vast amounts of energy pounding the pavement.  Who can argue with that? 

So, dressed with my best "I can't wait for this" smile, I waved as I left them in the parking lot and hit the perimeter trail leading for the front gate to the park.  Oh no, no running in circles around the perimeter trail for me today.  With the sun shining, this running gal was heading out to Bay Ridge to enjoy the sun sparkling on the bay.  Yes, it was a totally zen day for running.

My goals for the day were to see if I could slow my pace down.  Just last night I agreed to volunteer as a pacer for the Zooma Annapolis half marathon in June.  I'll be pacing the 2:10:00 group.  How hard can it be to slow down?  Ummm, a lot harder than you think.  I set off thinking to myself that I was ambling along, only to look down at the Garmin and realize I needed to slow down by about 45 seconds per mile to hit the right pace. 

That's going to take practice, so instead I just decided to slow down a little and enjoy the scenery (I like window shopping the houses in the Bay Ridge neighborhood and imagining myself sitting on my front porch looking out to the Bay Bridge or the eastern shore over my morning cup of coffee) over the next 11 miles...a lot of it stretching out along the bay.  People were out and about prepping lawns for spring, walking their dogs, riding their bikes, enjoying a glass of wine on the picnic tables lining parts of the beach.  It was that kind of day.

I was both happy and sad to turn back toward the park to complete my run.  Happy to play in the sun on the playground with my kid, feeling awesome from my run.  And sad that there wasn't more time in the day to enjoy the serenity of my thoughts and my running shoes.

I reached the park to see a smiling face swinging high above the playground on her swing.  We played a little longer, letting the diva show me her new found rock climbing skills, before heading off to buy preschool safety scissors so she could cut her way through all the construction paper her little heart desired.  Yeah, I could take days like this everyday.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  11.01
Time:   1:43:25 (average pace of 9:23 per mile)
Feeling:  Completely at home