Rough Week

As I alluded to in the previous entry, my illness definitely was stressing me out.  However, that was just the tip of the iceberg.  This week included track meets on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  Then, the following week had Tuesday (the day after Boston) and Thursday meets.  Due to entry deadlines, lineups for all five meets had to be planned before I could leave for Boston. ........

Each lineup takes a 2-hour meeting with the head coach (distance), the hurdle coach, and myself (sprints).  Following that meeting, I go home to spend another hour adding in JV sprinters.  I have over 40 girls in my group, so there is extra attention necessary getting them into meets.  After that, I spend more time putting all the entries into the online system that automatically seeds athletes/relays into lanes for the meet.  The lineups added roughly 15 hours to my week.  Also, the Tuesday and Thursday meets add another five work hours to my week per meet.

To top it off, the third quarter of school ended that week, which meant grades were due.  It also meant I gave tests in each of my classes and had to grade all of that work before I could submit grades.  So, between teaching/grading, coaching at practice/meets, and planning lineups, I worked close to 80 hours the week in which I supposed to be adding rest.  Recall, too, that I was still fighting a cold and would also need to pack for the trip.

I finally became so over-whelmed that I skipped a scheduled run.  I believe my streak ended at 147 consecutive days.  It was absolutely necessary, though, because I still had to do two days of sub plans (more work and more stress) for the school that I would be missing on Monday and Tuesday in order to run the marathon.

Then, mass worrying ensued as weather reports started to roll in.  Even the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) who hosts the event took fear.  It was going to be HOT for the marathon with a forecast into the mid-80s.  The BAA sent e-mails suggesting runners “slow-down” that “speed can kill” and runners should “take the mindset that Boston 2012 is an experience and not a race”.  It was utterly sickening to know that regardless of how well I prepared, my race was going to be mostly dictated by the sun in the sky.

Excerpt from BAA e-mail

Here is my training for the past week (Apr 8 – Apr 14).

On Sunday, I ran at Ada Hayden on the hilly loops.  It was very windy on this run and I ran like crap when I was going uphill with the wind in my face.  The run itself was good, but I was disappointed that the combination of wind/hills held me back during those stretches.  Total: 13 miles – 1:25:40 (6:35 pace)

The next day was a quick recovery run along my Duff Avenue route.  If found that the pace was a little quicker than I anticipated, yet was effortless.  So, I feel the taper was working.  Total: 6 miles – 45:52 (7:39 pace)

Tuesday was a home track meet.  I did a quick aerobic run from the high school to Ada Hayden for a loop. It went fine.  Total: 7 miles – 46:20 (6:37 pace).

The next day was the “dress-rehearsal” run.  I forgot about the schedule, so I did not have my race outfit or my race shoes ready to go.  The shoes were still in the mail anyhow.  In fact, on Monday, the track team gave me a certificate that they would buy a pair of racing shoes I could wear in the race so they would be “with me every step of the way”.  I ordered them with hopes of having them before the race.  They arrived on Friday just before I headed out, but with enough time that the girls could sign the shoebox.  Despite breaking them in, they gave me blisters.  Also, I have yet to be reimbursed for their cost, but otherwise I like the shoes.

The dress-rehearsal went fairly well.  It was a 3-mile warm-up followed by 2 miles at race-pace, then a 3-mile cool down.  The 2 miles at race-pace perfectly matched my long runs that had marathon pace finishes.  I ran the segment at 5:52/mile.  The longest of my long runs with marathon pace finishes was a 19-miler ending with 12 miles at 5:51 pace.  My race goal was merely 6:05/mile, so I had a ton of confidence building throughout the entire training plan.  Total: 8 miles – 51:42 (6:28 pace).

Thursday was an easy run.  I commented in my running log that I find myself getting bored by the taper and that I was feeling overwhelmed.  Also, I noted the forecast of 86-degrees for the race.  Total: 6 miles – 45:22 (7:34 pace)

I did not run Friday.

Saturday I ran a 4-miler with 6 strides.  We stopped in a little town about halfway to the airport for this run.  This was the first run in my new shoes after wearing spending a day walking around in them on Friday.  I have to admit the shoes were very fast.  I loved them.  I flew on my strides, probably too fast actually.  In reflection, they were too fast and my upper legs were both sore either from them or all the time traveling by car/plane.  This run was also expensive.  I miscalculated the time it would take to get to the airport and we got there with only 25 minutes before our flight took off.  That did not give us enough time to park in the economy lot at $6 per day ($18).  Instead, parking cost us $75.  Total: 4 miles – 29:26 (7:22 pace)

For the week (Sun-Sat), I hit 44 miles in 5:02:27 or 6:53/mile.