Women's training thread - week of 8/10/08

*snicker*

Funny, I had my own encounter with a poseur today at the track: A guy in skintight black getup, iPod and fuelbelt. He hogged the inside lane (where I was obviously doing fast intervals; well, fast for me).

When he first appeared on the track and went to the inside I thought, well, okay, he's going to smoke me and I'll take the second lane. But he proceeded to walk. Slowly. While I ran around him for 5.5 miles.

I love how walkers raise their arms nice and high as they walk. Like that does anything.

I don't think he was a triathlete, though, to his credit.

Okay, I guess I'm a hater.

I had a pretty good week: Another round of hill repeats, a midweek long run that I was too tired to run (but ran anyway), and a very successful marathon pace run on the weekend.

http://runslikeagirl.blogspot.com/2008/08/fall-training-week-12.html

How are the blood counts, Humbled?

I should add that I too wear a high-tech stretchy bandana on my head. I hope people don't confuse me with a triathlete as a result. I actually look more like a refugee. But it keeps the hair and sweat out of my eyes and protects my scalp from UV rays.

Back from the northland--I had great runs last week around Glen Arbor and Pyramid Point. I love Lake Michigan.

My funny/odd story happened in the winter while running on Hines Drive--a nice, low traffic, scenic drive in Michigan. We were running in the bike lane on the road because the bike/running path was pretty treacherous and icy. A biker decided that we were in her way (even though the whole road was empty) and rode her bike within maybe inches of my shoulder. So rude--worse than any car incident I've had in 30 years of running. (Though sometimes I've found that in the winter with my reflective gear on, the cars drive toward me to try to figure out what I am!)

Stoney Creek Relay on Saturday, the Crim after that.

Hiya Humbled thaks for starting things up :o) Having been reduced to bike training I was very surprised to find out how ahem mean spirited cyclists can be... I am a dyed in the wool runner and would much rather be training that way... Anyway, on my 30 mile bike ride I breeze by a gal going a lot slower and was about to make a left turn (admitedly without a hand signal as I am still building confidence on the new bike with hand stuff) ok no excuses, so this gal had crept up on my rear wheel in about 20 pedal strokes and had to put her brakes on thanks to yours truly making the left turn. The verbal exchange was not pretty, apparently saying your bike is quite new and you are getting used to it does not cut the cookies. After she told me F!U! I am sorry to say I retaliated in kind and spent the rest of my ride ashamed for my outburst but wishing she would appear again for some kind of redemption! Either a hard bike ride or an apolagy! Oh well, one of these days I will be logging the miles on foot again.Heading cross country to relocate so shipping our bikes (hubba's also) in the next few days, better enjoy the riding while I can!Have a great week ladies and enjoy the Olys. Several runners we have worked on (massage therapy wise) are racing the 10km in the next couple of days, can't wait to see how they do.Ciao for now all!

solstice girl wrote:

Back from the northland--I had great runs last week around Glen Arbor and Pyramid Point. I love Lake Michigan.

My funny/odd story happened in the winter while running on Hines Drive--a nice, low traffic, scenic drive in Michigan. We were running in the bike lane on the road because the bike/running path was pretty treacherous and icy. A biker decided that we were in her way (even though the whole road was empty) and rode her bike within maybe inches of my shoulder. So rude--worse than any car incident I've had in 30 years of running. (Though sometimes I've found that in the winter with my reflective gear on, the cars drive toward me to try to figure out what I am!)

Stoney Creek Relay on Saturday, the Crim after that.

Ended last week with an 18 miler....it took a lot out of me! First time I've run over 15 since Boston.....just reminded me I hate anything beyond 15 miles:)

Have been checking in regularily on the oly's...will only get worse as running events start....and i won't be getting any sleep so, will be backing the intensity off on my running. Besides....5 more weeks til I move across country!

Hope everyone is training well!

Hey, SG, are we teammates? See you on Saturday! I think I'm leg 4.

I agree with the reflective gear and sometimes opt for the darkwoman look to foil 'em.

This morning I attended our neighborhood boot camp, hosted by our friendly neighborhood aerobics instructor. As much as I hated it, every single thing we did was exactly what I need to work on - including keeping a beat.

Funny stories. I guess I'll add a funny one about myself: My watch broke and I wanted to time a run so I got out a red stop watch to take with me. Of course I didn't want to carry it the whole way so I set it behind a tree about 1/2 mile from my house. On the way back, first I forgot all about the watch. Then I couldn't remember which tree! Finally found it.

I'm running 30-40 MPW and plan to run Crim with my 2 daughters.

Solstice Girl - are you ready to go back to school? I may retire in a year or two!

Humbled - Glad you are still out and about and have kept your good sense of humor.

Pfitz Pfan - It sounds like your training is going great! Most of the time I just struggle through my runs just to get in some miles - with no plan.

Sounds like everyone is doing good, and is training well. I can't think of many funny stories, thiough I was riding by on my bike past a driveway and someone called out,"Hey, look out for the guy on the bike!" Maybe it was the Jeremy Wariner-like sunglasses...oh well.

I ran my first 7 miler ever on Sunday, (not that much, but big for me) and felt pretty good. XC oficially starts tomorrow, and I'm pretty thrilled. I'm curious to seee how many girls come out since we only had 13 last year, and half of us were always injured.

Oh, what is funny is if you run sprints next to another person, and you get to a point where your strides and breathing are matched, and then all of the sudden you can hear the other person smile because of the change in their breating, and you both start cracking up(which tend to give you awful side cramps). :)

Pfitzinger Pfan wrote:

I should add that I too wear a high-tech stretchy bandana on my head. I hope people don't confuse me with a triathlete as a result. I actually look more like a refugee. But it keeps the hair and sweat out of my eyes and protects my scalp from UV rays.

Absolutely no offense meant to high-tech stretchy bandana wearers. Maybe I'm a little senstive these days, as "hair in my eyes" is not exactly an issue. (On the plus side, protecting my scalp from the sun is easy . . . SPF #45 does the trick.)

Hey chicas!

One word to describe my training this entire month has been "motivated". I don't remember my motivation and determination being this high in the past 6 years.

Last week was a very difficult circuit run, followed the next day by a 3 mile progressive run, then a nice fartlek on Saturday. This week has been even better with a very difficult tempo this morning that went up a hill that honestly last more than 10 minutes! On Monday, we did one of the hardest hills runs of my life, no lie, and I found myself pushing the boys near the end of the run - I can tell they do not like a 47 year old woman in front of them.

We have some all-state girls who at this time are unable to run with me - it was I who could not run with them last spring or earlier this summer, but something has changed. I find myself now latching onto the 2nd tier boys. I have nothing else to measure my effort by since we do not time anything in terms of splits, and I haven't been training with adults. I know I feel fabulous when I run, and there is never any soreness the next day, very little fatigue.

Happy running everyone. All I can say about the bike is that I never really liked fitness cycling and I am not good at it! Have a great week - my best to you Humbled.

What a great thread! It is inspirational and fun to see what other women are doing to achieve their goals and I love all the stories so far!

I'll contribute one of my own to keep this thread going: I was doing a 5 mile tempo on a popular running path. I was going pretty fast, probably 5:40-ish, and people were giving me funny looks like "why is that girl running so hard? She has Why would someone do that?" Then I ran up alongside some muscle-bound 30-something man wearing a sweat soaked army T-shirt. I passed him because he was running slower than I was. He immediately started sprinting after me, yelling "hey!" I was about a mile out from the end of my mile tempo, so I was pretty darn tired and really didn't want to chat with this man about why he was being passed by a scrawny little girl, but he was running as hard as he could to keep up with me and saying stuff like "so you wanna race, do you?" and "what do you have to prove?" I gave a weak smile to try and show that I wasn't intending this to be a competition, but I mostly just ignored him and tried to drop him. He kept up with me for a good 400 meters or so and then finally yelled "Fine! You win!" and stopped to bend over and catch his breath. I can't even imagine how idiotic he felt when a pack of my teammates passed him a few seconds later. Or maybe he didn't realize even then and just felt like it was one of those days when fit women's libbers go out and really give it to the average runner guy. We all had a pretty good laugh about that after practice though!

As far as training goes, I've had a great week so far! I got in a 17-miler and a higher-volume fartlek, so I feel good. I am coming off of an injury that kept me out for almost 2 years and caused me to question everything about why I run and whether I should keep at it, so it feels good to finally have somewhat of an answer to those despairing questions!

I wish you all a most wonderful week of training!

Oh ickybana5, of course you should keep it up - look what you did to that poor fellow!

What a great story, I laughed and I wasn't even there to witness, (wish I had been as well as doing the 5:40 pace!)

16x

5:40 pace?

I hail you. And that man was a fool.