Run Report: 20 was plenty

Today was my last long run before Big Sur Marathon.  I met up with my running buddy Milah and we set off for 10 around Lake Union.  I love my running partner - we talk politics, health, marriage, running grossnesses, joys, stressors, and angst.

We set off down the side of Queen Anne and then along the canal looping to Lake Union at the Brook's store.  Our pace was steady and conversational - best kind!  Milah is prepping for the London Marathon, so we talked marathon stress and excitement, all the way to what our respective proms were like.  The biggest thing we talked about is how everyone looks so perfect on social media - clean house, no stress, perfect smile.  Here's my social media post - on the left is how I want to appear, on the right is a puffed face holding the boogers into my nose instead of dripping into my mouth:

After the first lake loop, Milah headed back up the hill - her marathon is a week before me so she's in "taper-cation" mode.  I stood by the lake getting the Deena Kastor book teed up again and trying to decide if I really felt like doing another loop.  As soon as the book was going through my headphones I was amped up enough to get around the lake one more time.

Towards the end of my second lake loop, the sky opened up and started a shower of rain with more pressure than my shower.  Kind of a nice way to cool, but the mix of sweat, snot, maybe some tears, and rain made me overcome with salt.  All good, though - sustenance! 

I finally finished loop two and decided on stairs up Queen Anne and a final QA loop to hit 20.

Falling makes me faster

It's been a bit of a rocky year.  For the first time since I was 13 years old, I'm not working and it feels like my identity as "type A career woman" is rocked.  I say feels to be precise, because the reality is, I'm still me but better and continuing to learn.  I get the chance for a fresh start which is kind of rare.  More specifically, I get to run as long as I want, swim as long as I want (OK, don't really want to, but am trying to learn to love), do yoga often, and squeeze in grown up things like exploring starting a company and networking.

Today's run had me thinking of my restart, where I've fallen, and how lucky I am to get to learn from tumbles.  Today I ran listening to Deena Kastor's new book "Let Your Mind Run" and the irony is not lost on my that my mind was totally running right along with my legs.  In the book Deena discusses her high school track coach Bill and how she got into running.

My high school track coach was also Bill, and he changed my life forever.  Speaking of tumbles, one of my favorite high school track memories was getting pushed down in a 2 mile race.  A girl pushed me on a turn and stepped on my hand to add insult to the push.  I got up and proceeded to lap her, say "thanks" while passing her, and then win - but still of course cry about it and complain afterwards.

 During my run today I kept thinking about the notion of getting knocked down and getting up again (then I'd mentally toggle to a song from the 90s about this).  Another irony was at a point in the book where Deena was talking about mental toughness and overcoming setbacks, I literally fell on the stairs going up to Queen Anne.  No worries, though, my mental toughness kicked in and so did my stride to finish out a good 16 mile run.

For a mini run report, the scenery was pretty perfect today too.  I ran from Queen Anne to Green Lake, looped the zoo and the lake, then ran around Lake Union.  Just before climbing the stairs to go up Queen Anne, I ran (heh, pun intended) across a family of geese where new life was literally growing ... and eating poop ... and growing.

At mile 15.92 I was DONE, but I couldn't bring myself to end so shy of a round mile, so I jammed up a hill to get 16.

Running with Riley

Like most dog owners, I love my pup.  She snuggles, plays (mainly with old socks instead of the bin of toys we bought her), and is eternally happy and curious.  She also likes to think she's a runner.  When I lace up in the morning, Riley starts stretching at the door like a pro yogi.

Riley is an amazing sprinter.  She goes out the first 50 meters faster than I can go.  The challenge?  After that she slows to literally smell every flower, say "hi" to every dog's bum and every bird, and stop to get pet by every human walking by.

Stairs

In Seattle, stairs on a long run seem nearly unavoidable.  I love stairs, though, so maybe they're unavoidable because my legs actively seek them.  Something about the burn, the forced rest to catch breath at the top, and the feeling of scaling a mountain faster than running up a trail get me.  Today's run took me around Lake Union and up Capitol Hill past Lake View cemetery where Bruce Lee is buried.

(my) swimming is (not) sexy

I'm becoming more and more fascinated by triathletes.  Their dedication, ability to toggle between three challenging sports, and mindpower astound me.  This year I'm going to get back in the lake and in the saddle (bike saddle) and try more tris.  But first, the swim.  It's first in the race, but that's not what I mean here - first, I need to actually figure out how to swim without freaking out in the water and getting panic attacks. 

This past week I've gotten into the pool three times (woot!), all after much procrastination, to throw my arms and legs around in a swim.  I'm clocking between 46-48min for 2000 yards, which is not fast, but it gets the distance done.  The three times seemed cause for celebration this week, but I think I wound up getting worse, not better.  Maybe part is due to my diminishing swim gear.  First I donned a TYR suit.  Proper.  Then, I left that outside to dry ... in the rain over night.  Oops!  Then I defaulted to a two piece zip up suit.  OK, not great.  Again, left outside to dry ... in the rain.  It was sunny all afternoon though!  But bully on me - should've learned.  Finally, today I dug through the dregs of my swimwear and landed on a non-matching tankini - mom attire after twins, you know.  The top was an outlet Oiselle top, and the bottoms were a men's speedo.  Another big oops!  I love bargains and I bet I reached into the wrong bin at some sale and didn't notice until an extra bit was flapping around in the pool today.

Besides the attire, my form has something to be desired of.  I haven't mastered the cool flip in the water most swimmers seem to know and do without thinking.  Instead, I have an awkward stop at the wall, turn around, deep breath, and go move.

In an effort to improve my form, I've been reading some books on swim.  One said simply doing laps without knowing form is no good, so in advance of my laps today I flipped through the entire book and looked at pictures to try to get a cliff notes on form.  I saw something about a speed boat and big barge and kept that in my mind.  During my swim, instead of looking like either boat, I wound up looking like one of those floppy things at a used car dealership - tube (wo)man.

Oh well!  Only can improve from here, and I'm dedicated to do just that.

Whistler Ironman 70.3 DNF

Welp, I had my first DNF (did not finish).  This was for the Whistler Ironman 70.3 (a half iron to be clear).  I still plan to do a half as soon as I can get my swim to be not so thrashy.  I had planned to do the race with a friend who is a complete athlete star - she's an amazing cyclist, swimmer, and a weekend runner.  And she's a mom and exec at Amazon to boot.  Our families went up together and stayed in Whistler Village.  It was nice being together to get through jitters; my jitters unfortunately spun up more at the starting line and in the water.

The day before the race, Munira and I went to set up our transition stations.  The bike transition was T1 right next to the lake.  The run transition was T2 at the end of the bike loop.  It was nice having gear set up ahead of time as that took a bit of pressure off the morning.


The punchline - lining up at the water I knew I wasn't super ready for the swim.  I'd been doing mile workouts in the pool and lakes the past couple weeks, but my lake swims were minimal.  I lined up with the 45-50min group (I swim a 46min mile) which was in the back 50% of the pack of total athletes.  When our wave came up for go time, I sprinted in behind all the other athletes.  Immediately I was overwhelmed - legs and arms were in the air and I kept getting kicked in the face.  After 100 meters I still wasn't out of the thrash and started choking on water.  I held on to a kayak (fair in the race) to catch my breath, and then kept going.  At 300 meters the same thing happened again.  Same kayak, same breath catching, but fear was rising.  At 500 meters I had somehow gotten myself so worked up I was hyperventilating, coughing, and crying because I didn't want the race to be over, but I was scared.  A boat pulled up and the driver said "well, what do you want to do?"  I looked at my watch - I had only gone 500 meters in 25min.  I wouldn't make it in the 1hr10min cutoff if I kept going.  I started crying more and then breathing less.  In the end, I was pulled out. 

DNF'ing sucks.  I felt like a total failure.  My kids kept asking "what happened mommy," and then hugging me because they felt bad.  Cole completely internalized the sadness, so I tried to overcome it and be a big girl.  My kids also brought full joy at what would have been the finish line.  They hugged me, literally patted my head which I found amusing, and asked for FULL details.  "
What did it feel like?  How come you couldn't breathe?  Who kicked your face?  Why didn't you kick back?"  Chin up - onward.

Now, a couple weeks later, I'm swimming more frequently but not quite so far still.  I WILL do a half iron someday.  I'll do a couple sprints first. 

The art of the swim

With my bum toe, I've been itchy to move.  Thus far, all I could do was situps, weights, and swim.  Because of my impending tri the swim is a necessity.  Here are a couple of my findings...

1. I heart salt water pools!  In CO, I had the joy of swimming in a salt water pool.  Not sure if it was the salt water, the perfect temperature, the candles lit around the pool (seriously), the music playing around the pool, or what, but I loved it!
2. Small lakes are yucky.  I've swum in Green Lake a couple times, and in Moron lake in Orcas Island and the tiny fish and seaweed give me the heebies.  
3. Big lakes are awesome.  Lake Washington is amazing to swim in.  The cold water is a bit jolting at the start, but that's what wet-suits + pee are for.  Kidding.  Maybe.  
4. Goggles that look like you just had an eye dr. appointment are key.  I've tried the small Phelps lookalike goggles and hands down the best are giant tinted UV goggles that make sure (a) no water gets in, and (b) I have more peripheral vision to see the fish, etc. jaunting around me.
5. There is no beauty in the pool.  When the goggles come off, the eye wrinkles are magnified.  Also, everything from hair to smell to the jiggles are there for everyone to see.  Oh well.