A small and small-minded victory

Sometimes I am quite petty, it's true. And I had a great reminder of said pettiness while I was running last week's 8 miler. Here's the whole sordid story.

As I started up the long, winding hill that snakes from the beach to the top of the bluff at Golden Gardens, I saw a woman runner heading downhill toward me. Just before she passed me, she turned around and started running back up the hill. Oh great, I thought sarcastically, another opportunity for me to make peace with my slow pace.

Then I realized who the woman was: she goes to the same gym as me and I often see her in the free weight room. I don't know her name or anything about her because she never acknowledges my presence. That's fine, it's not like I chat with everyone in the weight room, but she seems to be quite friendly with many other folks. She works out with her boyfriend or husband, and he's been nice to me -- he says hi at the gym and when I see him out in the neighborhood. But her? Nothing doing. Even if she's standing right next to her boyfriend/husband when he says hello to me, she studiedly looks the other way. It definitely seems that she's taken a dislike to me.

I thought for a while that I was being paranoid so I tried looking at her, smiling and giving her a little "hey" wave when I saw her in the weight room, but her avoidance only intensified. She really couldn't have looked any harder in the other direction when I was attempting to be friendly. So I gave up and started actively disliking her in return (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em -- right?). Aside from being so weird and standoffish, she gave me a couple good reasons to thumb my figurative nose at her: she's always caressing and kissing her boyfriend/husband in the gym and that drives me crazy. Plus, her hair bugs me. Remember how I said I was petty at the beginning of this post?

Back to the run. Knowing that it was my gym nemesis plugging up the hill in front of me erased any potential for zen thoughts about accepting my slow pace. I stepped it up as much as I could -- but the hill was very steep and I was already quite sluggish from my cold. I just couldn't get in front of her. So I resolved to at least not get any farther behind.

Then, at the first curve, the most satisfying thing happened: she slowed down and started walking. Seeing that somehow gave me a big boost of extra juice -- I hoofed it the rest of the way up the hill without looking back, with a big fat mean-spirited grin on my face.

I have no idea if she ran or walked up the hill or not. For all I know, she may have been done with her run and heading back to her car when I saw her start walking. Regardless, I got to have a tiny moment of obnoxious victory at that first curve in the hill, and I relished it even while feeling like a really bad person. Hey, when you're as slow as I am, you've got to take your victories where you can get them.

Punctual weekly roundup

At last! It's been a while since I've done one of these on time. It's a wet and breezy day and I just finished a 6-miler with SuperAthlete J ... the perfect time to reflect on last week.

Monday, 11/9:

12-mile run

A pretty good run, all in all, despite the nearly constant rain. I could definitely feel a cold coming on so wasn't sure how far I'd go -- as SAJ pointed out, the week held a 5, an 8 and a 12 and I could choose to do any one of those distances. I said I'd see how I felt as we went along but in my heart, I planned on doing the 12. I knew it would feel fantastic to get it over with. SAJ, on the other hand, said was feeling tired and planned for 8.

We did our usual loop, adding the spur at the duck pond to increase the distance a bit, and found ourselves back at SAJ's house at just over 8 miles. Her kind husband Blue-Eyed S met us at the door and immediately grabbed a pot of hot water and towels so we could warm our hands and faces a bit. SAJ did look tuckered out, it's true -- and she told her husband that she was done for the day, but that I was going to push on for the 12.

He gave her the sweetest look and most gentle encouragement -- no pushing, just, "Are you sure you don't want to go those last few miles?" SAJ grimaced a bit and reminded him that it wasn't a few miles, it was 4. He gently nudged again, "Are you sure?" It was about the most charming motivation I've ever seen -- and it totally worked. SAJ sighed, stood back up and said, "OK, let's go." We grabbed our iPods, plugged in and headed out for the last four wet miles ... and wouldn't you know, it was all I could do to keep SAJ in my sight. She may have been tired, but it wasn't showing in her speed. Maybe she just couldn't wait to get back home to the hot bath her husband said he'd have ready for her. That definitely would have hurried me along ...

Then, as if I wasn't impressed enough with SAJ's supportive husband, I got to enjoy a giant bowl of his delicious homemade chicken vegetable soup after the run -- hand-delivered to my front door by SAJ less than half an hour after I got back home! It was delicious, warm and perfect. What a treat!

Tuesday, 11/10:

Full body weights

45 minutes on the treadmill in zone 1 (125 or so bpm)

I was definitely in the full swing of my cold on Tuesday but still had enough energy for a moderate workout. I took it slow with the weights and didn't push myself too hard on the elliptical trainer, hoping that I'd give myself a nice immune boost by exercising without pushing too hard. I was more tired than usual when I finished, but didn't suffer any adverse reaction beyond that.

Wednesday, 11/11:

Rest

This was supposed to be interval day and I just couldn't face it. While I was comfortable doing a regular workout, I didn't have the energy for the full-out effort of intervals. I promised myself I'd do them on Saturday (my usual rest day) instead.

Thursday, 11/12:

Upper body weights

45 minutes on the treadmill in low zone 1 (110 or so bpm)

The low zone 1 workout felt like the perfect thing to do in the middle of my cold -- it really seemed to help me sweat it out a bit. The weights, on the other hand, were hard. As I've mentioned before, I rotate through an assortment of weight workouts -- and the one that showed up on this day was the most difficult in my roster. The movements are more involved and the weights are heavier ... I have a feeling this workout is one that I picked up when I was much more full-bore on the weight training. All the same, I got through it and was happy to have it behind me.

Friday, 11/13:

8-mile run

I was supposed to run with SAJ in the morning -- but after a night of crappy, congested sleep, I woke up to cold temperatures and drizzle outside. As much as I didn't want to leave SAJ to run alone, I didn't think it would be smart for me to be out in those conditions. So I stayed home and cozy during the morning, watching the sky and thinking that I could always run on the treadmill at the gym if the weather didn't improve.

Happily, the sun came out and my energy rebounded in the afternoon. I set out for a solo 8 and, despite feeling some fatigue from lack of sleep and my tiresome cold, followed the same route that SAJ had done that morning: a reverse of our usual hilly loop. It was interesting to do the same route backwards and I could definitely tell that I wasn't at the top of my game. But I got through it and finished just in time to run to Little C's school and cool down while walking alongside her as she rode her bike home.

It had been a long time since I'd run any kind of distance on my own -- and I was reminded all over again of how wonderful it is to have a running partner. Even with an iPod for distraction, time seems to move so much more slowly when I'm on my own. Thank goodness for SAJ and our compatible schedules!

Saturday, 11/14:

Intervals

Although I couldn't quite believe I was keeping the promise I'd made to myself, I got dressed and headed to the track for intervals on Saturday. Lucky for me, Husband M agreed to come along and run, too. It was interesting to do the intervals during the day -- and with a kids' soccer game taking place in the field at the center of the track to boot. I think I like running intervals better at night; the darkness lets me feel like I'm running faster. In the daylight, it was all too obvious that I wasn't very speedy. Perhaps I was also more sluggish because of my cold? Probably. Regardless, I got through the intervals, crossed them off my list, and felt satisfied. (Apparently that's my refrain for the week: "At least I got through it and that's enough for me.")

Sunday, 11/15:

Full body weights

45 minutes on the stairclimber in zone 2 (147 bpm or so)

Even though I was more congested than ever, I had better energy than I'd enjoyed all week. The weights felt good, not too hard, and doing the stairclimber was a novel treat. I was supposed to run 5 miles but had a really sore and spasming lower right leg after intervals on Saturday -- so I thought a lower-impact exercise would be better on Sunday (especially because I knew I'd be running 6 miles on Monday, which would have meant 4 days of running in a row -- a bit much for me).

It's been a long time since I've done the stairclimber and it felt hard at first. But I settled in pretty quickly and plugged along while enjoying a magazine. I usually have a pretty easy time getting into my desired heart rate on the stairclimber and this day was no exception: I aimed for zone 2 and was able to stay in it fairly comfortably, without feeling like I was knocking myself out. All in all, a very satisfying workout and a great launching pad for the new week to come.

Eating on the run

As long as I'm talking about food, I thought I should cover foods to eat while actually running.

It took me a long time to come around to the idea of eating during a run. While training for my second half marathon, I tried different pasty substances and chewy squares but it always felt awkward and wrong to be chewing and swallowing in the middle of a long run. Plus, eating didn't seem to make much of a difference in my overall energy or performance so after I while I gave it up. I didn't eat anything while training for my most recent half marathon -- or during the event itself -- and didn't suffer any adverse consequences.

But when I started training for a full marathon, I realized pretty quickly (with the help of friend Carmen) that I'd have to take in additional calories while on the move. For a slow runner like me, eating while running seems even more vital. After all, it's going to take me in the neighborhood of 5 hours to complete the marathon. That's if I can go the distance (sorry, I had to say that because I don't want to jinx myself).

And it's not like I can load up on food and then start running immediately. The longer the run, it seems, the longer I need to wait after eating to get started. For the marathon, I'm going to aim for about three hours between breakfast and the starting whistle. So, all told, that's 8 hours between the last meal I eat before the marathon and the first one I eat after -- more than 8, since it's not like I'll be sitting down to a giant plate of food at the finish line. And 5 of those hours will be spent working my ass off. So (back to my original point), I accept that I've gotta eat during the run itself.

Fortunately, the benefits of taking in calories during a run are now very tangible to me. If I'm slow and dragging, then pop in a mouthful of Luna Moons or Sport Beans, I feel a definite uptick in my energy about 10 minutes later. Placebo effect? Maybe. Especially because I read somewhere that it takes about 10 minutes for the energy from those carbs to get into your bloodstream and hit your muscles. But even if it's all in my head, I don't care one bit -- because I can feel the run becoming less of a push for a while, and even if it's in my imagination, it is absolutely delightful.

Lately I've been experimenting with what to eat on a long run and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a single answer. I tried doing all Sport Beans on a 15-miler and ended up with a really sour, unhappy stomach. I saw this described as "sugar belly" in a book recently and that term seemed perfect. Although I really enjoyed the taste of the beans and the quick boost they gave me, I knew I needed to look at other options.

Next I tried Luna Moons, thinking that their milder flavor would decrease the sugar belly effect. True to a certain extent -- but I still couldn't consume them for an entire run without suffering some consequences. Honestly, my stomach felt like it needed some real food.

The idea of eating something "real" on a run was a bit frightening to me. Anyone who knows me is well acquainted with my fear of nausea and vomiting. The last thing I wanted to do was put something in my mouth during a run that would make me feel like I was going to barf. Although I've read about runners who eat crazy stuff like pizza and burritos on a run -- and Trainer A from the gym told me he eats turkey sandwiches and bagels and cream cheese -- attempting something like that seemed like asking for trouble. What I wanted was something uncomplicated, not too fatty (read: no dairy), not too sugary, that I could easily carry and would taste good. Oh, and that wouldn't give me diarrhea, make me nauseous, give me cramps or make me barf.

Tall order. But, so far, my experimenting has been fruitful, without any of the side effects I dread. The one substance I really don't think I can consume without putting myself in danger of good old runner's diarrhea is Gu or anything like it. I confess, I'm hugely attracted to the ease and simplicity of Gu: no chewing, just straight down your gullet, and lots of the flavors are even caffeinated. But the ones I've tried give me cramps like nobody's business. So all those pastes are off my list.

What IS working for me these days -- and what I'll carry with me during the marathon -- is a mix of Luna Moons (watermelon is my preferred flavor), LaraBars (peanut butter cookie flavor) and Frosted Cheerios. Not all at once ... one type at a time. I take my first food break at mile 5, then try to put something in every 3 miles or so after that. I alternate: Moons first, then Bar, then Cheerios. Whatever it is that I'm eating, I don't take in a ton: three Moons; 2 chunks of Bar (the equivalent of half a bar or less); handful of Cheerios.

I also make sure to wash down my snack with lots of water. That's another mistake I made early on: not drinking enough after eating on the run. Apparently (and this makes a lot of sense), you've gotta add water to the mix if you want your stomach to be able to absorb the calories you've just ingested. If you don't dilute your food with some water, it sits there longer and -- this is the part that really got my attention -- has the potential to irritate your stomach. Which means that I'm now totally on top of drinking 6 or so ounces every time I eat.

Last thing: have you tried LaraBars? They're really good, and not just during runs. There aren't many bar options for me because I have trouble with soy, and LaraBars are made solely with fruit and nuts -- at least, my fave Peanut Butter Cookie flavor is that way. But unlike other bars that are made with whole chunks of said ingredients, these are ground up and mixed together so they've got that same easy-to-eat-and-digest bar consistency that's the hallmark of products like Clif Bars.

Here's a link to the LaraBar web site and a picture of what they look like. I wish I knew how to make that fancy umlaut.

http://www.larabar.com/

Post-run recovery foods

Have I sung the praises of chocolate milk after a long run yet?

It is the most wonderful, miraculous, non-intuitive beverage in the world. I've read about it being the perfect recovery food many times -- and scoffed at the idea in almost every instance. But after falling prey to lightheadedness and nausea after long runs (the result of not taking in some kind of food within 30 minutes or less of stopping), I thought I'd give it a try.

Let me say that there is absolutely nothing I want to put in my mouth after a really long run. And by really long, I mean 15 miles or more. A distance like that makes me feel like my stomach is eating itself. I feel so empty that I feel sick. It reminds me of early pregnancy -- the times when I felt so miserably queasy and knew the only way to feel better, ironically, was to make myself eat. It seems like exactly the wrong thing to do ... until it works.

That's how chocolate milk after a long run was for me. Even though I couldn't think of anything that sounded GOOD to put in my body after a long run, I could think of plenty of things that sounded better than chocolate milk. I tried many of them, without a lot of success. (If success as defined as "not feeling like barfing is imminent for a couple hours after a run.") Some foods helped; some seemed to make a bad situation even worse.

And then I tried the chocolate milk. Not only did it taste and feel surprisingly good going down, it totally calmed my stomach and helped pave the way for real food -- which, as I learned, should be consumed no more than an hour after the chocolate milk, otherwise the fantastic anti-queasy effect is totally negated and I'm back at square one.

For these last few super-long runs, I've been adding to the chocolate milk: I've tried bananas, rice cakes, Cheerios, frosted Cheerios, corn chips ... do you see the trend here? It's pretty much straight carbs. I don't know if the added foods are helping, but they're definitely not hurting. And I don't know if I'd still feel fine if I just went with straight chocolate milk; it just seemed to me that, since I was running farther and longer, I should increase the amount of calories I jammed down my gullet immediately after the run. (And again, by "immediately," I mean "within half an hour at the absolute most.")

I also have to be careful about what I eat after the chocolate milk has primed my pump and I'm ready for an actual meal. It has to have a significant amount of protein, but not a ton of fat -- otherwise I am on the diarrhea train (sorry for the TMI). Same for spice; it's got to be pretty mild for me to stay off the train whose name I won't mention again. Carbs are still important ... but if I focus too much on them and leave protein in the back seat, I end up feeling weird and woozy for the rest of the day. So far, I'm loving stuff like beef and barley soup, beef stew, chicken stew ... hmm, lots of soups and stews.

The last thing I'll say is that I'm realizing more and more how important it is to have a food plan BEFORE I head out for a long run. After I've knocked myself out is not the time to brainstorm about what would be good to eat or -- worse yet -- get into a bunch of involved food prep. I know from past experience that, if I have to figure out what to eat and spend a bunch of time making it after a really long run, I will keep putting it off because I am so tired, and end up feeling like crap. What I aim for now is making sure I've got chocolate milk fixin's and some kind of snack at the ready for when I get home, plus a plate of something that I can microwave about an hour later. Not having to think about it is total heaven.

My friend and fellow runner Letterpress N passed along a couple yummy-sounding recipes to me, saying she'd gotten them from a nutritionist who recommended them as ideal post-run meals. Truth be told, I haven't tried either one of them yet -- but I hope to one day. In the meantime, I'll paste them here, directly from Letterpress N's email:

Sesame Noodle Salad

8 oz Cooked whole grain noodles (I use buckwheat soba noodles)

3 Tblso Tahini (Sesame paste)

1 tblsp Peanut Butter (almond, cashew)(I use regular peanut butter)

1 tsp Maple syrup

2 tblsp Brown rice vinegar

2 tblsp Soy Sauce (Tamari or Shoyu)

1 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil

1 tblsp Water

Cook noodles according to package directions. Make sauce: Combine remaining ingredients (sometimes it helps to heat the nut butter in the microwave for a few seconds) and stir well. Add to noodles and mix well. Enjoy.

Curried Quinoa Salad with Mango

• 1 cup quinoa (about 6 ounces)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon mango chutney, chopped if chunky
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 cup chopped peeled mango plus mango spears for garnish
• 1 cup chopped unpeeled English hothouse cucumber
• 5 tablespoons chopped green onions, divided
• 2 cups (packed) baby spinach
• (optional) I also put in chopped red bell pepper

Cook quinoa in medium pot of boiling salted water over medium heat until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Drain well; cool. Transfer to medium bowl.

Meanwhile, whisk oil and next 4 ingredients in small bowl to blend. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.

Add chopped mango, cucumber, 4 tablespoons green onions, and 1/4 cup dressing to quinoa; toss to coat. Divide spinach between 2 plates. Spoon quinoa salad over spinach. Garnish with mango spears and 1 tablespoon green onions. Drizzle with remaining dressing; serve.

Pathetically late weekly roundup

Is it a good thing when exercise takes up so much of my free time that I can't keep up with my exercise blog? I don't know -- but that's definitely the case right now. As soon as the marathon is over and I'm exercising less, I'll ironically have plenty of time to update my blog. Hmmm.

Monday, 11/2:

10-mile run

Man, this run felt great.

SuperAthlete J threw down a bit of a gauntlet for me during our 14-miler the preceding Friday: in my quest to keep my heart rate in the fat-burning zone, I've been taking walk breaks on the hilly sections of our route. SAJ, on the other hand, has been powering up at a steady jog. When I congratulated her at the top of a hill last week, she said that she's been reminding herself of the stamina she's building during our interval runs. If she can sustain those high heart rates during intervals, she said, she can do the same on a long run. Then she slyly encouraged me to try getting up the hills without a walk break at least once before the marathon -- so I'd know I could get through the big hill toward the end of the course.

That's exactly the kind of challenge I can't resist. So, when we came to the base of the first big hill, I tucked my chin down, stopped talking and committed to jogging up the entire thing. It was actually easier than I thought it would be -- and the same thing could be said for the run overall. I stopped looking at my heart rate and just enjoyed the motion, confident that I wouldn't run out of steam during a 10-miler. I felt light and strong right through to the end, which was totally heavenly. Ahh.

Tuesday, 11/3:

Full-body weights

45 minutes on the elliptical trainer in zone 1 (125 bpm or so)

Nothing to report here -- just a regular old workout.

Wednesday, 11/4:

Rest

I felt a bit guilty about taking this as a rest day but with the big 20 miles looming on Thursday, I wanted to be as prepared as possible. (Unlike SAJ, who ran intervals 12 hours before we started our 20 -- isn't she badass?) Besides, one of my books -- the terribly disorganized, not exceptionally well written and sometimes contradictory "Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer" -- recommends sandwiching the long runs between two rest days. Is it self-serving that I'm taking that advice from a book that I don't necessarily embrace on other levels? Probably. And I haven't followed their formula across the board -- only during weeks where the training schedule calls for an increase in distance, and only for the last couple of those (18 and 20 miles).

Wow, look at how I'm rationalizing taking a rest day before the longest run of my life! Clearly I've got some issues to work out ...

(But I will say the rest was quite lovely and came at the perfect time, when I had a lot of other things to do and wasn't feeling my best, with a weird gurgling stomach, abdominal cramps and fatigue most of the day.)

Thursday, 11/5:

20-mile run

I already posted about this so no need to repeat myself. But I will say that, in hindsight, I feel even better about completing the distance because what I thought was run-related nausea and dizziness I now suspect was the first stage of a bug that eventually flowered into the cold I have now. Could this be the same illness I felt like I was fighting during the entire preceding week? If so, I think I'd rather just catch the damn bug and get over it, instead of feeling it hover for 10 days before finally taking shape. Good gravy.

Anyway. What gives me the suspicion is that sweet A, my oldest daughter, had a bug that followed the same pattern just a couple days after my stomach distress. We've also been hearing many stories at school about illnesses that sounded quite similar.

Was I actually sick, or was I dizzy and queasy because of the run? I don't know -- and probably won't until marathon day, when the same symptoms may or may not present themselves. I can say that I've never experienced anything similar to the way I felt during the last 5 miles of the 20-miler ... even while running the 16 and the 18. So that does make me think that I had something else going on.

Since I'm hugely terrified of feeling nauseous at the marathon finish while surrounded by billions of people with no quick-and-easy escape route, I am banking on the hope that my symptoms were related to illness and not overexertion. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Friday, 11/6:

Rest

The other side of the "rest sandwich" -- and again, perfect timing, since I spent most of the day en route to my annual "girlie weekend" on Lopez Island. I woke up feeling positive that I had some kind of big respiratory illness on the way: sore throat, heavy chest, body aches, etc. In my mind, I made lots of backup plans involving an early departure from girlie weekend because I couldn't help but worry I'd caught swine flu from Sister M. I felt progressively worse as the day went on, but not so terrible that I needed to go home, so I decided to play it by ear.

Saturday, 11/7:

7-mile run

Woke up feeling much improved and antsy for some exercise. The weather didn't look like it would cooperate (although I planned to run regardless) -- it was full-out raining and gusty outside. Then, just when it was time to suit up and head out, the clouds blew away and the sun appeared. How heavenly!

I think I'll remember this run for a long time. I was scheduled for a 5-miler but honestly felt so great and light on my feet that I didn't want to stop. Even the hills -- of which there were many, but none too steep -- felt easy. I got to the top of them without even really registering that I was running uphill. The day was beautiful, the scenery was gorgeous, I got to say hello to my friends (who were out walking) several times as I ran back and forth ... it really couldn't have been better. It was a potent and wonderful reminder of the joy of running -- and a feeling I haven't gotten to experience lately, while I've been pushing myself so hard to run ever-increasing distances.

The best moment? Getting to the top of a hill and having the following thought suddenly appear in my head: "I am in the best shape of my life." It made me almost giddy with happiness. (And it's true.) No matter what happens on marathon day, I do believe that was a pinnacle life moment for me.

Sunday, 11/8:

Rest

Uh oh. I was supposed to do full-body weights and intervals when I got back home from girlie weekend ... instead, I lounged around, enjoyed my family, took care of Sweet A (who had gotten sick the night before and spent the day on the couch) and nursed my own "I'm coming down with something" feelings. After Saturday's wonderful recovery and dream-come-true run, I woke up again on Sunday morning feeling like I was fighting something off.

I don't know if this is good or bad, but I felt a lot less guilty than I usually do about missing a workout. That's huge, considering I took a total of three rest days during the week. Then again, I also felt sick for a good chunk of it and ran the longest distance I'd ever managed. I've got to find that line between not beating myself when I miss a workout or two, and letting myself get away with skipping out on more workouts than I should. So far, it's proving elusive. I want to be patient with myself without getting lazy. Is that possible?

I also want to stop whining about feeling sick, being sick, or teetering on the verge of sickness. I am going to be well and healthy and feel good! As soon as I'm over this cold, that is.

20 miles

I never in my life thought I'd be able to say or type that words, "I ran 20 miles today." But I did, along with SuperAthlete J. Even better, I didn't take a single walk break on the many hills along our route. That meant I had to disregard what my heart rate was doing -- and it may have led to the dizziness and nausea I felt for the last several miles of the run -- but I really wanted to see if it was possible for me to get through the entire distance without slowing to a walk. (We did, however, take several breaks to eat, drink water and go to the bathroom. Our longest break came at mile 17, when we made a pit stop at SAJ's house to change our sodden clothes, then headed directly back out into the rain -- which had started up around mile 8 and accompanied us fairly consistently for the remainder of the run.)

I just got the best email from SAJ, so wonderful that I'm just going to copy and paste it right here:

Take that big gulp and say yes we did! Congratulations on a steadfast run that in all opinion was my best 20 I have ever run. It was brilliant and now it seems harder we stopped than to have kept going....I am walking very slowly around the house! Remember lots of fluids to recover and some arnica here and there won't go a miss. Good job Anna, Love J.

Seattle Marathon, here I come!

Another overdue weekly roundup

Life is catching up to me lately. I'm actually a little bit busy with some paid writing work, yeehaw, while simultaneously fighting off an unhappy mystery bug (successfully so far, fingers crossed). For these reasons, I again didn't quite complete all the workouts on my schedule. But I'm trying to cut myself a little slack right now, since I'm in the last critical weeks of marathon training. I'm working on telling myself that I'm fine as long as I stay on top of my running. This week, it actually worked ...

Monday, 10/26:

Full-body weights

45 minutes on the elliptical in zone 1 (approx. 125 bpm)

This was the first indicator that I was a bit under the weather. The weight routine I did is the easiest one in my rotation -- and I felt like I had cement running through my veins with every rep. What is usually a quick and exhilarating couple of circuits in what I privately refer to as the "old and fat people's room" turned into a long, hard push. Apt punishment for my snide feelings about this room, although it's true that most of the folks working out in there are either senior citizens or clearly fighting the battle of the bulge. Which makes me wonder how effective the circuit training machinery is ...

I hoped an interlude on the elliptical trainer would feel like a welcome respite after my troublesome weightlifting session, but no dice. All in all, it was a hard workout that left me wondering what was going on with my body.

Tuesday, 10/27:

9-mile run

Wow, why couldn't I remember a single thing about this run? I actually had to leave this day blank and move on to the rest of the week before any details came to mind. I think all the runs are starting to blend together. Now that I can remember it, I can say this one wasn't bad but I did feel tired. SuperAthlete J and I started out together; she stopped after 5 miles because she needed to get to a cycling class across town (yet another example of her utter bad-ass-osity). I did the remaining 4 on my own and man, they felt long. My energy was pretty good but I couldn't wait to get the distance done with. It's funny, I keep thinking that these shorter runs are going to feel like a piece of cake after running distances that are twice as long ... but I'm almost always wrong. Maybe it's a problem with my mindset or something? That no matter how short the run is, I psyche myself out so the last chunk feels hard? If that's the case, perhaps I should start pretending that I'm running much farther than I actually plan to go; then I'll be done before I start in with my self-induced suffering. Something to think about ...

Wednesday, 10/28:

Intervals on the track, 4 miles total

Because I was still not feeling entirely myself, I began this workout assuming that I'd have to take it easy. Wonderful husband M came along with me and as we pulled up to the track, I told him that I was going to stick with him that night (he's not a runner and has a slower pace on the sprints). Somehow, I found some energy and managed to get around moderately quickly -- but not nearly as fast as I usually go. Again, I walked away wondering if and when I was going to come down with the bug I was so clearly fighting. I also did a lot of thinking about the article I read recently regarding exercise and immunity ... I figured that, as long as I stayed in my fat-burning zones, I was probably giving myself an immunity boost during my workouts. But really pushing it during the sprints around the track probably didn't do much for my ability to ward off sickness. I went to bed feeling achy and hoping I'd manage to sleep off whatever bug I had lurking around.

Thursday, 10/29:

Upper-body weights

45 minutes on the treadmill in super-low zone 1 (105 bpm)

The weights felt a bit easier today but I got another red flag during the cardio portion of my workout: I had to bring the treadmill speed all the way down to 1.2 mph to keep my heart rate anywhere near 105. It was really all I could do to stay under 110. I reminded myself that I was probably helping my immune system with a low-key workout but was still a little discouraged by how slowly I needed to move to stay at my desired heart rate.

Friday, 10/30:

14-mile run

Again, I thought this run would feel relatively easy -- especially after completing 18 the week before -- but again, I was wrong. It was definitely a push. Fortunately, I had SAJ with me and she, as always, was nothing but charming and inspiring. We did our usual hilly loops, chatting for the first one and plugging into our iPods for the second. It was a really blustery day and I took a page from SAJ's book by telling myself that all the extra resistance was great for my training; that if the wind was blowing like crazy on marathon day, I'd be prepared. Fortunately, wind was the only weather issue -- we got through the whole run without any rain. Although I was happy to get to the end of the run, it also reminded me that next week brings the longest run on the training calendar: 20 miles (gulp).

Saturday, 10/31:

Rest

What a wonderful, wonderful day -- and perfect timing for a rest day. Little C and I woke up early, went to coffee (well, steamed milk for her), then tramped through the Arboretum admiring the leaves and wildlife. Then it was soccer, a visit with Sisters A and M (and exposure to the swine flu; more on that later), Halloween prep, dinner with friends, trick-or-treating and candy eating. Heaven. And I was finally starting to feel a bit more like myself.

Sunday, 11/1:

4.5-mile run

Planning to run first and do weights at the gym later, I cajoled Husband M into joining me for a short run by telling him that the first section of the route was downhill and the rest was flat. Good sport that he is, he came along but I think he regretted his decision after the first mile. Nevertheless, he stuck it out -- taking a rest break when he needed to, but starting right back up after a minute or so. It was a gorgeous day and I felt so happy to be out in it, exercising with my own wonderful good-natured husband. But after all that goodness, the sense of sickly lethargy that had been dogging me all week came rumbling back and I decided to skip the weights so I could stay home, relax and enjoy the remainder of the day with our girls. Which was good because shortly after I made the decision, Sister A called to say that knocked-up Sister M was spending the night in the hospital with a probable case of swine flu, and could we take their dog Ruby for the night? Of course we could ... and so began our wait to see if one of us would catch her bug. What a sickness-filled fall this is!