Imagine that! I went running again in the rain today, again.

Seriously, for almost a month, we’ve been having these crazy days of rain. I think the longest it’s gone without raining here lately has been maybe three days. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, but literally every time I plan to run, I prepare to go running in the rain!

Took a 9-miler today and did it a little slower than my ususal 10″. I ran this route in Biltmore Forest. It’s a pretty hilly route, and actually matches portions of the Seattle course pretty well in terms of elevation gain.

The first 5.5 miles rocked, and then I hit a wall. Before I hit my wall, my running form felt good, I wasn’t listening to music, and I had a big smile on my face. After the first downhill, my knee started to talk to me a little bit, which I knew to be because my stride was coming too far in front of me. On the next uphill, my knee pain went away immediately. Good lesson for uphills allowing my form to be more or less perfect (or as perfect as it’s going to get!). It’s a lot of uphill for the first half of the run and then a fair amount of downhill at the end.

The last 1.5 miles were okay, but I attribute it to downhills and water (I stashed a water bottle at mile 6).

I imagined writing my blog about my running experience, stating that it was absolutely blissful and amazing and I was so proud of myself… and I think I can do that with about 85% certainty right now, but I was honestly irritated with my (slower) time and sluggish finish.

When I was feeling good, my brain and ChiRunning focuses were all over the place, but mainly concentrated on

• tracking (big toe and pinky toe coming ‘off’ the ground at the same time)
• using my arms appropriately, depending on terrain
• barely using my legs on the uphill
• trying to get my pelvis to rotate on the downhills
• trying to breathe as calmly as possible, but without restriction

It’s so beautiful in Biltmore Forest that it’s hard to complain at all. The rain made the entire neighborhood look like a rain forest, and that was pretty special.

I would say over all, it was a good run. I stretched pretty well when I got home, and also did about a 5 minute leg drain, but I have a feeling I’m going to be a bit sore tomorrow. My knee hasn’t started any painful motions yet (last week by this time it had), so I think that’s a great sign.

Here is the route I ran this afternoon. Until I mapped it, I thought I had run 8, not 9, so I feel a little better, but I was SLOW. 1 hr 45 minutes for 9 miles? I will be lucky to finish in 2.5 hours on Sunday! Gosh.

I felt great until mile 5. It was all uphill for the first 3.5 miles (and I mean uphill!) and then it was downhill until about mile 6.5. I guess it was probably close to mile 6 that my knees started to talk so I did the last obvious downhill by weaving down the hill instead of going straight down.

The last 3 miles were HARD. I did it, I just took one step ata time and tried to back off of my ego and just let my body do what it needed to. As Danny suggested, I did 8+ miles and I did it easy. I guess it wasn’t all that smart to change two variables (terrain AND distance AND time) but I just did it. It’s really almost impossible to run on the flats here, but I liked doing the hills, oddly, especially the uphills. Call me a masochist, but I really felt the best on the uphills.

Here are the things I focused on/felt:

• Comfortable temperature. It was chilly, but I had long sleeves and long pants and a ball cap. Sleeves were long enough to wipe my nose and keep my hands covered, so that worked great.
• The uphill and most of the downhill (look at the elevation map on the link above) was really good, and nice terrain, little traffic.
• Even though I took a map, I got a little lost (I get so annoyed) and I am sure that added a bit to my slowing factor, but I was just trying to keep going as much as possible, not stopping too long to figure out the map issues.
• On the uphills I was really trying to think ‘no legs, all arms’ and really focusing on breathing out longer and breathing in faster.
• I was focused on keeping my column straight as possible, on all terrains and all fatigue levels. I hope my core muscles are the only sore ones later today.
• When I started to feel tired, I thought about getting really long and skinny and tall and took smaller steps. I tried to lean more without efforting and miraculously, (esp at the end) my legs seemed to suck less oxygen and weren’t freaking out so much.
• I tried to smile and look around with my eyes, not with my head. I wanted to make sure that I was keeping in form but still taking in all the surroundings.
• I imagined what the race day will be like and felt better: it will be flat, lower elevation, a fun environment, lots of support and my first 1/2 marathon! I’ve got nothing to fear but fear itself, as a friend gently reminded me. Thanks Alan.

I did a leg drain and quick stretch when I got back to the office. I’ll make sure to take a hot shower when I get home and use my new Stick to rub out some of my muscles. I will be able to report tomorrow how I feel. I am trying to remember to keep smiling and really enjoy myself all along this journey. It’s all about the path, not the end. Don’t let me forget that!

hey folks! good to be back on home soil… we got back from Ecuador at 4am on Sunday morning after a series of delays and an unfortunately junky airport-parking-dent-in-Liz’s-car-fiasco… but we’re home, we’re safe and getting back to 100%!

I am sorry to say that on my 14 day vacation, I didn’t run one minute. Not even the slightest. I had the best of intentions: in my suitcase I packed shoes, shorts, tshirt, etc etc, but never was I able to don the good ol synthetic clothes… no excuses necessary. Let’s just say that between seeing tons of family, eating at every chance, spending a great deal of time in the car, and overcoming some annoying minor health obstacles, I didn’t get around to it.

But I did today! I was a little freaked out to try and run because I was feeling a little bit puny still after recovering from some intestinal issues, but I am happy to say that I ran about 3 miles… the map says one lap around Carrier is 1.28 miles and I ran around it 3 times, so that’s 3.6, right?

I didn’t walk at all, I didn’t go fast, and I certainly didn’t feel awesome, but I did feel okay and I have to say that before ChiRunning if I had taken a 2 week break off running in any other time when I was training for triathlons, there is no way I could have run the distance/time I did today without stopping and would have most likely hated every step.

Thank goodness for ChiRunning. I feel great right now, and although my ego might be a little bruised (the last long run I had before leaving was so good!… argh) my body has responded well, both in my chi and in my muscles/bones. I am going to check in with Danny tomorrow to see what exactly my next steps should be between now and the 18th, but I am confident with some ganas and good visualization, dedicated runs and healthy eating I will be fine!

Here are some things I tried to focus on/felt while I was running today:

• keeping my chin down, always
• keeping my shoulder steady. I noticed they were getting a little crazy and when i straightened up and got them steady, I immediately felt like I had more energy for my legs. crazy.
• my breathing was fine but a little bit tight. I think it’s going to be like that for a few more runs before my body readjusts…
• I was trying to focus on not using my calf muscles, because right when i started, i noticed that my tendency was to push a little bit
• I kept a very tall posture, imagined a big balloon on top of my head pulling me up
• I tried to keep my feet behind my hips, though it was a little hard
• My overall feeling was okay, some parts were a little easier than others (when is any run not like that?!)
• I just kept refocusing my y’chi: when i looked around at other people or the road too far ahead, I got out of my body. When I refocused down to about 10 feet in front of me, I did much much better. It was more about getting my head in the right position I think than keeping the blinders on, because I did enjoy the scenery!

Okay folks… that’s all for now. Thanks for reading, hope you all had a nice holiday and an awesome new year. I know we did.

Scale: 6

well, i can positively say that mapping/determining my running route the night before a run is a very good idea, especially when it’s 35 degrees F in the morning and the last thing anyone would want to do is go out and run…

today i did two loops out at Bent Creek. it was just under 11 miles, and I did the whole thing in 1 hr 50 minutes. Not a really fast time, but not exactly slow either… that was about 10 minute miles: the first loop was slower than the second.

because it was so cold this am, i really bundled up, but expected to loop by the car at the halfway mark so that I could discard some layers… wore full spandex pants, warm socks, thermal long sleeve, fleece gloves & earwarmer and a light windbreaker (that breaks into a vest, it’s great, you should get one… had it sitting around from my crazy cycling days)…

anyway, in the pockets i stuffed kleenex, chapstick and a coffee flavored hammer gel. i figured that for the longest run of my life i’d probably want some energy.

before i left the house, i had two spoonfuls of honey and a couple sips of water. did my body looseners at the house: the thought of doing looseners in the windy shade didn’t exactly appeal to me.

while mentally preparing for the run this morning, i wasn’t sure how far/how long i was going to go. i knew two loops around bent creek were around 10 miles and i knew that i could walk back to the car if i got done in my time-limit and wasn’t finished with the distance. i also knew it was familiar territory and pretty, so it would be a nice running environment.

i did two full loops of the run, but the last 1/2 mile I walked. That would make it just over 10 mile run… in 110 minutes, i am okay with that!

i focused mostly on the 90 degree armswing and keeping my chin down. I was able to work with breathing a little bit too, even through my nose, because i brought kleenex! …

my knees started to ache at about hour 1 (which is right when i got to my car) and i ditched my windbreaker arms and gloves… i sucked down the hammer gel sort of slowly and sipped a bunch of water (while jogging, i tried to not stop at the car longer than 30 seconds…) and ditched the bottle for my return trip.

i didn’t get cramps after eating the gel, which was a good sign, and something to consider as a regular thing during my longer training runs and on race day, if i need it.

so, like i said, my focuses were: arm swing and chin down.

the arm swing thing is really nutty. my shadow was helpful in keeping me in check, but i realized that when i took the water bottle a couple weeks ago in biltmore forest for my LSD run, i think that’s when i picked up the bad habit of running with hyper-bent elbows… habits are quickly learned, eh?

and with my head: i started thinking of using my head to lead my body, leaning from my for head and letting my forehead lead me. i got away from focusing on my chin because it was just messing me up. obviously, after all this time, if i don’t have my chin right, i need to look at things from a different perspective. I think ‘leading with my forehead’ was a good antidote.

so with my knees being achy at hour 1, i was trying to focus on leaning more and taking smaller strides. i was thinking of gathering chi instead of issuing it (see this article danny wrote about issuing and gathering), especially on the second half of the run.. my hip never hurt, i never got a sideache, i didn’t take music so i basically had a meditation for almost 2 hours. my heart rate was remarkably low: i don’t think it got about 174, and for the 2nd loop of the run, it was at 167-169 for a few miles…

i get a little leery about heart rate drops: when i was on the triathlon team in college, i got overtrained and for the longest time, couldn’t get my heart rate up where it needed to be for effective cardio training. granted, today being an LSD, the high heart rate wasn’t the focus (really does it ever need to be?!) but i wondered briefly if i was having a drop because of overtraining…

Nah, i got around the lake and for the next several miles back to the car, i just picked up the pace. it was crazy, i couldn’t imagine stopping or slowing down, and i didn’t want to! i got into a groove, and while i know i wasn’t going very fast, i was going fast than i had gone previously in the run… i kept going… and going… and going.

like the energizer bunny. even though my knees still ached, i didn’t have any other issues to stop me… i kept thinking of these places along the route where i could imagine stopping and then walking to the car. But then I’d get to that ’stopping’ place and just keep going. So I had planned to run for 1.40 or 1.45 and instead ran 1.55! An hour and 55 minutes? WHAT?!

Well, I just didn’t want to stop, I guess. It just felt so good to keep running… i mean, ChiRunning really is the stuff that runners ought to be made of… injury-free and effortless running?

I had a few times during the run where various parts of my ankles/feet were getting talkative. i think part of it is that the terrain wasn’t concrete. I was running on gravel or wood chips for the whole run today, which is substantially different than running on asphalt, as you know. probably, my ankles and feet took some more twists and turns than they have all week. I kept my feet loose for the whole run, so the pain wasn’t actually pain like i had hurt myself, but more like twingey pain of something that’s been a minutely strained… i was able to body sense and recognize that i had some discomfort in my feet/ankles, but didn’t dwell on it and tried to imagine gathering chi from the ground to help heal those sore spots: facilitated by small stride and high ankles, i got the mid foot back in order and the pain went away.

when i got to the car, i stretched a bit, and had some water with supplements in it… got home and did a leg drain and some more stretching and soaked in Epsom salts in the tub. no sore muscles yet!

tonight, my knees are achey. we took a walk to a neighborhood pub earlier, and they were a little twingy starting off, and after sitting for awhile my knees are stiff… plan to massage some arnica into them later, but part of it might be the weather. do you think it’s possible for a 26 year old to have weather-congizant joints? I thought that was only for the advanced-aged folks.

overall: 10. thank you all for reading this and for being part of my journey to a ‘10′ run. i did it! and i’m sure i’ll do it again!

Finally! A good workout! Had a track workout that really rocked this morning.

Got there early so it was cooler and less ‘populated’… I focused on the y’chi (getting all the energy to flow around and up in my body, out my eyes, pulling me forward. Try it!). I really kept focusing on my form, (chin down, legs limp). I apparently tweaked my calf on the Bent Creek Run from Sunday and so I could tel when I was using my muscle today, and it actually helped me stay relaxed. I wouldn’t recommend tweaking your muscles to create this effect, but it is sure a good way to know what muscles you use…

I focused on a quick cadence (no metronome, but I could tell it was quicker than normal) but using my arms to dictate the turnover, not my legs. As Danny writes about, it’s so much easier to get your arms to swing in a fast cadence than your legs, but your legs will have to follow suit, so it’s sort of like the path of least resistance.

I thought of getting the ‘wrinkles’ out of the back of my neck - (What?! I don’t have wrinkles on the back of my neck yet, do i? ;)). It was really humid today, so I was a sweaty girl, which really isn’t much different than any other time, but I am talking DRIPPING. When I felt good in my form, I tried briefly to focus on breathing: 5 out, 3 in.

Had my 15 minute warm up, then transitioned into 6 x 200 m accelerations with 100 m jog breaks. The intervals went very well. I didn’t go too fast, but stayed within the range that I thought my core strenth could accomodate (kept in mind Katherine’s comment from last week). The last 15 minutes were just fine, pretty good pace, no walking this time!… Had a good stretch afterward. I would say on scale: 7/8.

Woo hoo, finally, a breakthrough!

Thursday form run: 45 minutes. after work.

Carrier Park. (Super flat, click here to see the map, it’s approximate.)

This run really was a bummer. I ran quite a bit less distance that I did last time for the same amount of time… I just couldn’t loosen up, felt tight the whole time, my feet were tight, my calves were tight. My stomach started tensing as soon as I started, my shoulders were up near my ears and I just kept trying to chill out. I was a wreck, really. (Wah Wah Wah!)

I didn’t enjoy it, but I ran the entire time, full 45 mins. I wasn’t in the best form… I didn’t injure anything or hurt anything, but I just didn’t enjoy it.

Scale: 4/5. Maybe I need to start running in the morning, or only when it’s really cool. I think the warm air is just too much for me right now. My heart rate was alright; I didn’t feel like I could get a full breath today; I kept yawning as it was the only way I felt I could get a full deep breath. Something’s going on, I don’t know what, but something.

Okay, that’s all.