Who runs a marathon?

This Marathon infographic was taken directly from huffingtonpost.com

Ahh, Vacation!

Things have been blissfully quiet on the Frayed Laces front this past week.  Why? I'm on VACATION! As soon as I typed the last sentence of my dissertation I took two weeks off from tutoring and gave myself a blissful break from all obligations. Some of you from twitter know some of my research made a splash and was picked up by several news agencies, so the first week of my vacation was full of interviews, but I loved every minute of it. As soon as my last interview was pau I booked it straight to the airport to meet PapaFL and head over to the Big Island for a few days.  

Relaxation at its finest

Our first few days we spent at Kona.  My first morning there I had a very important 16 miler (with 6 miles at 70.3 race pace, 6 miles at race pace+30 sec) and headed down to Ali'i drive. The morning of the run I felt awesome as soon as I woke up. My knee wasn't hurting, I was full of energy, and I was the leanest I've ever been. I even sent the following text message to my coach: "I want to make out with my own stomach. I love how my body is changing." It was hot, but I am proud to say I smoked every split. Running on that road brought back memories from Kona 2010. That run was followed up with a "Ballin!" text to coach. An epic run in an epic location--you can't ask for more!

After a few days at Kona it was time to head over to the Volcano---one of the coolest areas you will ever witness! We hiked across areas that felt like the moon:

And then got to see the glowing Volcano crater at night. Talk about oohs and aahs!

We're staying at this amazing rainforest retreat place and last night I took an outdoor shower, soaked in an outdoor Japanese hot tub surrounded by candles, then relaxed by the fire with a good novel. Man, did I need this!

The best part? This week is a rest week on my schedule (with a very important half marathon this Sunday!) I'm going to milk my rest week for all that it's worth!

I hope you're all having a great week and find some time for some relaxing moments!

Destroying yourself, smartly

Well, we knew we would be pushing my body to the breaking point...

Part of the fun with this season's training is seeing just how far I can push my body before it starts to rebel. A few years ago, this would have been a stupid thing for me to do.  But now, after a few years of injury wisdom, I feel like I have the experience to know when it's time to say "enough. rest."  Which is why I decided to bail on my 16 miler this morning. Yesterday during the last part of my run I had some muscle pain right above the inside knee.  I spent last night rolling out opposing muscle groups and icing. But when that pain intensified 1.5 miles into my run, I turned around and walked home. Hopefully everything should be fine in a few days. It should be because I was smart about it and stopped while it was still a minor pain rather than a searing pain. Young Frayed Laces would have kept running till her leg fell off. Older, wiser Frayed Laces knows an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I'm going to Kona this weekend because PapaFL is in town and I'll do my long tempo run Sunday on Alii Drive. Not a bad place for inspiration!

Normally I would be irritated by an "injury", but both my coach and I knew it was highly likely after last week's training insanity. Let's recap Friday through Sunday:

Friday was my usual 20 mile HURT loop. On Tuesday's long run I obtained this beauty when my feet got caught in wire and I face-planted in front of the stream of cars in their morning mass exodus from Manoa Valley:

Apparently this was deeper than I thought, because on Thursday it still wasn't scabbing over. One of my vet(ish) coworkers told me it was down to the connective tissue, and it was looking a little iffy. I confessed that it was throbbing at night about two inches from the actual cut, so she scrubed the bejesus out of it with Betadine and gauze. It hurt. I cried.

So, when I knew I was heading into the leptospirosis infested waters and mud of Nuuanu valley for my trail run, I tried to cover it to keep water out. Halfway to the trails I realized the bandaid wasn't going to stay put. Thankfully I had some emergency duct tape in my pack so Tara wrapped it as best she could. That's the trail runner way!

At the trailhead I waved bye to Tara and headed off for a day of solitude in the mountains. My run was good. Really, really good. I decided to be all kinds of crazy and do the loop backwards from my usual route to shake things up. I also downloaded the new podcast Talk Ultra. I can't remember who on twitter recommended it to me, but whomever you are...thank you! There's something so romantic about listening to a podcast about ultrarunning while you're running the course of a prominent 100 miler.

Saturday was the day that I was simultaneously excited and freaked out about...Kenyan Day! On the schedule was a 10k in the morning with short pickups, a mid-day 9 miler with tempo at race pace, and then an evening 10k. I had never tried anything like that before. Could I do those miles at that pace the day after a 20 miler? I woke at 4am for my first run. No problem whatsoever.  I quickly showered and fueled and then headed to volunteer at a local HURT trail series race.  It was Tara's first race in 8 years, and I had been helping "coach" her to complete the 6 mile trail race. I had a blast volunteering and running into friends. I helped with the timing at the slide finish, and helped cheer all the runners in. Here's some highlights from the race:

@Ocean_Dr, @TaraZirker and myself

A leprechaun!

The humble race start

A nervous Tara pre-race

@Bobmcallaster at the finish

Tara sliding to the finish!

I love the HURT races. The sense of camaraderie is amazing and the vibe is so friendly. They also give you a time credit if you pick up rubbish on the trails. 10 seconds off for each piece of trash you pick up! Now that's a way to take care of the aina!

After the race it was time for me to get ready for my main run set of the day. It was my first speedwork of the season and I was nervous as to how I would do. Imagine my surprise when split after split came in way faster than I planned! I even negative splitted each one! I came home victorious and Tara captured my happy dance:

After that run I had a few hours to refuel, nap, and hydrate before my last 10k of the day. I felt pretty great at the end of the day (a little tired and hungry, but otherwise great). Here were the three sets of shoes I used during Kenyan Day:

Brooks Ghost, Brooks Racer ST, Brooks Pure Connect

After a quick dinner I headed to bed early because the next morning was a 6h ride followed by a 45 minute transition run. The ride was awesome---it's been awhile since I had a good ride. I rode up every hill and ridge I could find--9k of elevation change! I climbed my favorite ridge--Kamehame--twice, including one time going all the way to the very top (past the gate). I love this ridge because you are all the way at the top of Oahu and can look down into Waimanalo. These pictures don't even do it justice.

Just beyond the gate

At the top of the ridge: Rabbit island is in the background

Looking straight down to Waimanalo...see my foot?

View into Nalo and Kailua

Mug shot to prove I was there!

By the end of the ride by legs were j-e-l-l-o. I was laughing to myself at how shaky things were on my last set of Olomana repeats. The run after the ride was fun too. I had weird shin splint pain the first two miles, but pushed through and then everything settled into place. Afterwards I headed to the Massage Ninja to work out all the damage from the weekend.

But, like I said, the weekend did take a toll on my body. We learned its limit. I'm totally zen about missing my long run today because I know I pushed my body to the absolute limit this past weekend. As soon as I got home this morning I called coach John and he was zen too. He basically said "well, we knew this would happen, right?" So now that we found the limit, we back off a bit. Give a few days for the twinge to heal. And then, once it does, you know I'll be right back destroying myself all over again. 

So, how did your training weekend go? Any of you out there hit any big milestones, breakthroughs, or races?

Motivational Monday

From the Coach's Mouth: The Psychology Behind My Training

Lately, I've received a lot of questions about my training. 

“Frayed, why on earth do you still do the HURT loops (which are SLOW 20 mile trail runs/power hikes) if you're training for an Ironman?”

“Frayed, why on earth do you have so much weekly run volume?”

"Frayed, have you lost your mind?"

Well, instead of trying to tackle these questions myself I decided to hand that responsibility over to my coach, John Hirsch.  He is the man responsible for my insanity of a training plan, and he is either the man who will help guide me to a Kona slot this season or the man whom I will hold responsible if I miss a Kona slot (no pressure, or anything, John...)

So with that, take it away John......

"Are you gonna rise like a lion, or sit there bleeding?" Matishyahu

As me and the Frayed One entered year two, we had a half year of history and that made the path clearer. The year prior my job was was talking her off the ledge she had climbed onto with her over training. If you read this blog, you know our protagonist is no stranger to hard work, but she is less forming with recovery.

In mapping out 2012 it was important to have a healthy break. Her gallivanting around the old world was key. (Frayed Note: I spent 6 weeks in Europe for research after IMFL) A meaningful diet change when she returned was also key, since off season holidays tend to not go well with race weight and her first big race is early on.

Beyond that I further wrapped the leash around her neck and held her back from going all out like a rabid dog with 4-6 weeks of early base training and cross training. But for her, all things need to be epic, and she and I decided the sick, hard HURT loop was a great place to do both. A sick, hard hike with a sick amount of duration, it burned calories, built fitness and is all cross training which helps prevent burn out.

But the real training came after that. Ms. Laces is a bad ass swimmer and biker but her run lacks behind. So once she was ready, we moved to a run focus. We kept in some long, all day type stuff so that she would be strong and have the endurance to run the run well. After all, a lot of people have poop runs not because they are bad runners but just because it comes last, and late in the race they fade. But that's not the case here; her race results show she is built to last. What she needed to add was a run that was as world class as her other two sports.

Lucky for her the answer to running isn't a mystery. You 1) get lean 2) run a lot. Also 2 helps with 1. The real key is to not get hurt, sick, burnt out or discouraged.

A few tricks I know is 1) keep the runs on soft surfaces. 2) make sure you keep your shoes fresh. Thanks Brooks! 3) have a few early running races to keep the motivation there. Yeah we mixed in some speed work, some hill work, long stuff, tempo stuff, bricks, tempo long, tempo bricks, tempo-your-mom or whatever. If your reading this and know her, don't tell Frayed Laces, but really I just want the volume. The other stuff helps too but not as much as just running a boat-load. I think it's as important that you just run the volume as it is what you run. This is part of a bigger theory I have: volume is good for Ironman. If you love your workouts you will do them and more. Thus, make your workouts awesome and you will be too. The HURT loop does that: it's epic and gets her fired up. So it happens. Same with the triple run day. (Frayed Note: Saturday is my Kenyan Day: Three runs totaling 20 miles; two with speedwork) I pretty much dared her to do a triple run day. FL can't turn down a dare or challenge. I know she gets pumped up for it. Next thing you know, she has a freakish amount of time on her feet.

Did you think this post was about plans and numbers? Ha! That's the easy part. You can get that from a book or computer program. The key to coaching is getting in someone's head and the job of the athlete is to let you in. So with this athlete, the goal was to come up with new and creative challenges that inspire and motivate her daily and of course address what work needs to be done and to make sure she doesn't kill herself.

Let's Show Some Appreciation!

I should be working on my dissertation, but instead I'm blogging. Such a responsible grad student, I know.  To my credit, I do have a printed draft to deliver to my committee. Not perfect, but perfect enough (all 140 pages of text) for now.

After the my nice recovery time last week, I am finally itching to train again.  This week marks a shift in training with more of a run focus. Saturday's workout is termed "Kenyan Day" and has three runs (two with speedwork) totaling 20 miles. Today was a 15 miler, and Sunday is another 20 mile HURT loop. Combine that with Monday's run and it means a whopping 62 miles of running this week, along with 6k of swimming and 7.5 hours of biking. Fun times ahead.

Yesterday I woke at 4:30am to do hillwork in the dark, wind and rain. I felt so bad-a$$. I love the feeling of running super early in the morning, and I love it even more when the weather is nasty out.  I feel like shouting "yeah, that's right world. I'm so hardcore I'm out here running in this craziness!"

After work I headed to the pool. An OWS (Open Water Swim) was on the schedule, but since last week we had major sewage spills with our crazy weather, I'm still nervous about swimming in the ocean. Instead I hit up my nearest long course pool for 3k of fun. To keep track of laps, I split it up into 500s. At the end of each 500 I flipped over one of my slippahs. Who needs fancy lap counters? It was very amusing because for about 1000m I was sandwiched by two men who wanted to race me. One had on fins and was churning up the water around me, and the other one tried to race me in 200m intervals. I tried to ignore them and maintain my pace, but couldn't help but laugh as they both failed to keep up.  What can I say? Even in the pool I'm competitive (you know you are too!)

One thing I've been surprised of this season is how I'm actually starting to like swimming. I've been working on smoothing out my stroke, and I think that because I'm becoming more efficient in the water it's improving my relationship with swimming. I also think that since I've had so much drama on my bike rides and runs (issues with cars, issues with body-meets-pavement), I've learned to appreciate the fact that it's pretty hard to injure yourself swimming. As I get more stressed with life in general, I've also learned to appreciate that it's quite lovely to stick your face underwater for an hour without anyone bothering you.

Speaking of appreciation, what about you? What is it you appreciate most about your swimming, biking, or running?

Motivational Monday

The Darker Side of FL

The past few days my stress level has been increasing. It always seems to happen that I go through periods of low-obligation relaxation punctuated by periods where everything seems to be crashing in around me.

I'm currently in the latter.

Due to a scheduling headache, it turns out I have to defend at the end of April.  Usually one's dissertation is due 30 days before the defense, but one of my committee members is requesting it early. As in, now. Working from home is impossible since my neighbor so considerately decided to start the construction on his new house this week. Yesterday he was pile driving (or something similar) ten feet from my desk. I decided to head to Starbucks to work, which was dumb. I ran into coworkers and one thing led to another and I suddenly found myself agreeing to spend all day Saturday helping a younger student. As in, the Saturday I was supposed to be finishing my dissertation.

I had grand intentions to swoop in as the senior grad student and save the day for the younger student, but our equipment malfunctioned and I found myself 8 hours later with absolutely nothing to show for it. I got home, jumped on my trainer, and was just finishing my ride when my roommate who appears once a week comes home. And waltzes in my room. And wants to talk about more stressful things like arrangements for when both roommates move out in a month.

I kindly explain to her that I really can't talk to her about this now. She persists. She wants to "discuss it just a bit". I explain to her that I'm *this close* to a breakdown, have no room for any more stressors in my brain, and just need time. Just a day or so. I hop in the shower thinking our conversation is over.

I emerge from the shower and sit down to immediately start simultaneously writing the conclusion to my dissertation while debugging a Matlab script. Her body appears over my shoulder. "I know you don't want to talk about it," she begins, "but maybe we could just discuss it a little."

*Enter the dragon*

"Bah!" I exclaim, "no! You don't understand! I have zero--I mean zero--mental and emotional capacity to deal with anything else right now. I'm sorry, but we cannot talk about this today. I have three hours to do six hours worth of work before I have to go babysit for some friends. I cannot do this."

She continues "Okay, well how about we make a list of what we need to discuss and then schedule a meeting to discuss it?"

At this point I nearly explode. "No! I said no! I warned you I was on the verge of a breakdown and now here it is. I can't handle this! This is not happening today!"

She very quickly escaped from the house. I sat down to do computer work, but was so overwhelmed I just sat at my computer and cried.

My other roommate came home awhile later as I was searching for my missing Yurbud. "All I need to do is find the damn Yurbud. Everything else in my life has gone to shit, but I know I have hope if I can find the Yurbud."

The Yurbud still has not been found.

Video Post: Tips on Going Gluten Free to Improve your Triathlon or Running Training

Agree? Disagree? I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this! Share them in the comments below!

Got a question you'd like answered? Email it to frayedlaces@gmail.com and you may be featured on the next video post!

Motivational Monday

So I almost died twice this weekend...

Apparently the universe is trying to tell me something.

Like stay far, far away from anything resembling training.

Friday I had a 5 hour ride on the schedule, and I was looking forward to a relaxing, beautiful ride along the North Shore. I had a new playlist to rock out to and a positive mental attitude as I hit the road. When I got my first flat five minutes into the ride, I didn't let it phase me. Monsoon rains and 30mph crosswinds? Bring it, mother nature! Unfortunately, my good mood did get interrupted by one tiny thing: a garbage can.

Since the residents of Oahu are oh-so-considerate, they often leave presents for us cyclists. Like garbage cans in the bike lane. Usually I have plenty of warning to dodge the offenders, but on Friday an unfortunate string of events led to my near demise. I came around a curve face to face with a garbage can. I looked to see if I could swing wide to avoid it, but there was a dump truck next to me. I thought I could brake in time. I had no idea I was in gravel. So, as I'm trying to brake my wheel slides out from under me. My body slams against the garbage can and I get launched into the road on the North Shore. I realize I'm lying in the middle of the pavement and find myself face to face with the grill of an SUV. Thankfully traffic stopped in time. I took a few minutes to assess the situation. My body was hurting but nothing was broken. First, I rinsed my wounds and plucked out gravel. Then, I spent a good amount of time checking out everything on my bike: frame, components, steering, wheels, brakes. Things seemed to be fine, so I decided to continue. Although I was a bit sore I was able to ride for another 3 hours, until a second flat left me stranded three miles from my car. I checked my watch. Due to my accident, I lost a lot of time and was behind schedule. I had 45 minutes until I had to meet a student. I was three miles from my car with an un-rideable bike, a 20 minute ride from my house, and a 20 minute ride to my meeting place. I started to panic. So here I am, bleeding, sprinting up a hill in full cycling gear and pushing my bike. I must have made a lot of people laugh. Thankfully a car stopped and offered me a lift to my car (he was a local cyclist). I sped home, had Tara make me a smoothie while I had the world's fastest shower, and then quickly bandaged my wounds and was out the door. Miraculously I made it just in time.

Saturday my workout was derailed by a closed pool and flood warnings. I pushed my workout until later in the day and was able to get in a swim and a decent tempo bike ride. My planned run did not happen as any type of running resulted in searing pain from my bruised hip. But I burned more calories chasing around a two year old that night while Tara and I babysat for some friends.

Sunday I planned to do a 6 hour HURT loop. When I left the house, the weather indicated very light rain all day. At the start of the trail I have to cross a stream, and when I crossed initially it was up to my knees. Definitely not ideal, but doable. As I started to climb out of Nuuanu the rain picked up. Once I got to the top it was pouring. I kept running when suddenly I thought "THE STREAM!". The past two days have had flash flood warnings on Oahu. As the rain turned the the trail into minor streams I realized the main stream was growing and growing. And that meant I had to move fast if I wanted to get back home. I started running as fast as my hip would allow back down the mountain. As I got closer to the bottom everything was one giant stream. I started to panic. What if I couldn't make it across? Who would I call for help? I kept thinking how I didn't want to call the fire department because then I would be *that person* in the local paper whom everyone made fun of. More than just my safety was on the line; my dignity was on the line too! When I finally got to the stream I quickly said a prayer and braced myself. The water was rushing and it was up to my waist, but I felt I could safely make it across. I kept my center of gravity low and slowly made my way across, holding onto boulders for support. Not the smartest move, but better than the alternative.

Thank goodness next week is rest week.

Energizing Running Playlist

In an earlier post this week, I asked you guys for tips on mental ammunition to power through tough training weekends. I realized that I was in desperate need of a playlist re-vamp considering my playlist had been the same for over a year! Now that I've gathered my favorites from the top of the charts, I've got tunes that make me smile regardless of how tough the training session. Here's what I'm rocking out with:

What about you? What are some of your favorite songs for powering through tough workouts?

Video Post: Tips on buying your first triathlon bike

Gathering the mental ammunition

Working up a sweat during my trainer session

 The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle –Unknown

After a few down days about my health and training, I had a nice chat with the coach and now feel reinvigorated.  We looked over my training log, health, and general mindset and decided that my three heavy days of training might be too much. Since we're not ready to cut back on training, we're trying one small tweak: swapping Sunday's long ride with Friday's HURT loop. I love the HURT loop and lately long rides have sapped my enthusiasm, so hopefully by switching things so my long ride comes after a rest day, my training will improve. That means tomorrow I have my long ride. We'll see if our swapping of workouts improves my mindset.

Earlier in the week I was struggling with a really sore adductor muscle that brought flashbacks of my pelvic fracture.  I cut my long run short by an hour and spent the rest of the day feeling sorry for myself. My massage ninja suggested I roll out my TFL, and once I did I had instant relief. He explained that it is due to the tug-of-war between muscles: when one thing is sore it is usually because an opposing muscle is tight or out of whack. Although it's still relatively tight, my coach and I are confident we can train through this "injury".

Three more days. Just three more days of heavy training before a recovery week. 5 hour ride on Friday, 5 hour triple brick on Saturday, and 6 hour trail run on Sunday. If I just get in the right mental mindset, I can get through this. Time to gather the mental ammo.


What is your best mental ammo for tough training sessions?