Pain in the Butt

Saturday was supposed to be the first meet of the outdoor season, and yes it's cold outside. Unfortunatley I was sidelined for this one. I had every intention of racing but when I woke up I was unsure. I've been having a slight issue with a muscle in my glutes for the past month or so. I know that there were things that I probably shouldn't have done...like race last weekend...but honestly it only gets buggy every so often. It hurts the most though when I've been sitting for long periods of time, sitting on the floor is the worst, and when I drive. Of course any normal person would have gone to the doctor but I'm convinced that it's not that serious. So instead of trying to find a PT, I went online to self-diagnose. I believe it to be the piriformis muscle that is the cause of the inflicted leg. All the symptoms matched and the causes made sense. Though I won't rely solely on a web diagnostics, I'm going to take it easy (seriously), see where that leaves me and there after if it's still in the state it's been in, I will seek alternative measures, i.e. the real physical therapist. Or you know I could always just ice bath it :)

Gotta Watch

Here's an absolutly HILARIOUS clip that some of my teammates put together. Just visualize seeing this while walking down the streets in Boston. Hope it will make you laugh as hard as I did (PS. make sure you have the sound on)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfwBB_dxXnQ

A Day O'Lucky

WOOOHOOO!!! Is all I can say. I can't even begin to describe how happy that I am about my race today. This was my 4th annual race at the South Boston St. Patty's Day 5K. Since it's not a very competitive race I was hoping to go into the race and win it all, I was 2nd place female last year. That was until I found out that 2 of my teammates were going to run in it, so I knew that I clearly wasn't going to get that, both girls have far more strength in the distance area. I accepted that fact and instead decided to focus on #1 dropping my time from last year.

The race started off way too fast for my pace, I realized that quickly and settled back a bit. As I dropped the speed my teammate had said to me- 'You better be #3'. I hit mile 1 at 6:12, typical 1st mile split, fast but I didn't fell too strained. Rounded the statue chugged up the hill, split mile 2 at 6:30, surprisingly more even than it usually is. Basically I had been running by myself up until this point with a few guys sporadically passing me or vice versa. Then right after I passed the 2 mile mark I heard one of the spectators yell go #3 and 4. That's when I was made aware that there was a girl coming up on me. All that flashed through my head was #3, #3, #3, I didn't even care at that point what my time was, I was going to be the third female to come in. I felt her come up on my shoulder then she slightly got a step ahead. Randomly, I haven't a clue why I did it, but I said out loud "I don't think so" then proceeded to pick up the pace. She stayed on my back for the last mile and everytime she got too close I speed up. I was simply determined not to let her get past me. Once we rounded one of the last corners with about 300 meters to go I knew that she had nothing on me, I've got to hand it to my kick it's the thing that always comes through in the end. So in the end I got my #3 place. But that's not the only greatness that came out of the race. I had thought when I crossed the finish line that the clock had said 20:00. I was excited because it was a lifetime PR in the 5K but just slightly bummed because all last fall I was determined to break the 20 min barrier and this time I was actually sooooo close. Well folks my happy ending was granted because the race results had me clocked in at 19:59. I can't even tell you how elated, joyed, crazy happy I was.

It turned to be a fun and rewarding race. The 3 of us went 1, 2 & 3 for the females, the one that came in first won the entire race (yeah she's good). Go GBTC gals!!! And I also took home the metal for 1st South Boston female resident. Go ME!! I can only hope that this is just a glimpse into how the outdoor season's going to be. Here I come PR's.

119 24:24 7:52 23 20-29 34 F144 Deanna Clark S.Boston,MA (2005)
149 25:07 8:06 30 20-29 44 F130 Deanna Clark S.Boston,MA (2006)
16 21:02 6:47 2 20-29 2 F166 Deanna Clark Boston,MA (2007)
24 19:59 6:27 3 20-29 3 F506 Deanna Clark S. Boston,MA (2008)

Ouch

If there was another word for the pain I feel, then tally it with OUCH! Sometimes I over exaggerate things a bit, but now's not case. Tuesday's practice kicked not only my butt, but also my thighs, calves, pecs, abs, and pretty much every connective muscle in my body. Since we won't be competing for a while we've reverted back to some strength workouts. We did a set of 50 ab exercises, then 20 push ups, a drill for an extended amount of time, jog 200m, then sprint 200m, then repeat the sequence 8 times. Secretly I really love this workout. I have absolutely not an ounce of energy at the end but I enjoy the challenge. What I don't enjoy however is how my body feels not the next day but 2 days later. Oh the joy of delayed onset muscle soreness. I even ice bathed afterwards (which is seemly becoming a common practice of mine) and it still hurts. Runners...It's crazy to think what we put our bodies through hoping it will make that one moment down the line the most glorious one we've ever experienced. Can't wait for that day!

Reload, rewire, reassessment time

The indoor season is now officially over. Competing wise that is-thankfully we'll still be practicing inside for about another month. Sunday was the USATF Indoor Club New England meet, I ran the 800 and a leg of the 4x400. My parents came to watch with my youngest sister, who was so excited to see me run. I love that I aspire her to pursue being a runner. It makes me giddy when I hear that she wants to run track. She didn't get to see me run my best race or even close to it but I don't think she cared. And honestly I didn't really either, well I did care but it wasn't as disappointing as it has been in the past.
I decided that I would go out with a different race tactic than usual-Not go out into the lead right away but hang back a little and make a move on lap 3. Well it didn't exactly pan out quite like I planned. I did hang back but I never made the move up. I just didn't have it in me. I felt sluggish after the first 200, I didn't even have my infamous kick at the last lap. Even one of my teammates said I didn't look like myself. I'm not sure if it was the approach for the race or if it was just me being exhausted.
It is what it what it is...time for a new game plan. So I've taken myself back to earlier in the season when I was running strong, trying to pin point what I was doing differently then than I am now. I've found that I've been slacking in the weight training and mileage. I've decided that I'm going to rework my lifting schedule back into training more regularly as well as some hill workouts and stadium stairs. I hope that this will make a difference, if not than I'll figure something else out. I am absolutely stoked for the outdoor season to take off!! Ready to take on my PR's.

A not so Daily Quote

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer"
-Albert Camus

Still learning

Yesterday and today marked the second to last meet of the indoor season, the BU Valentine Invitational. This was a HUGE meet with roughly 2800 athletes competing between the 2 days. Just like the Terrier Invite two weeks ago, the women ran on Fri with the DMR on Sat and the men ran on Sat with the DMR on Fri.
Yesterday turned out to be a long day. I went to work at the gym until noon, then I came home hoping to sneak a little nap in before I headed over to BU. Unfortunately my plans were a bit foiled. I kind of volunteered myself to take care of the team packet (collect $$ & make sure everyone has bib numbers) at the meet. I was unaware that I was meet manager for the team until I checked my email when I got home. So I had to pack up and rush to track much earlier than anticipated since the meet had already started at that point. I didn't mind going up early since all I would be doing anyways would be sitting around the house doing nothing, whereas at the track I could watch the races. The only downside of it was my race was the last of the night and it wasn't scheduled to go off until 8:55p.
I entered into the 1000m again looking to improve, though I guess that's what every runner has in mind when choosing what they're going to race. I've been working on my visualizations the past week, trying to get "on track". I definitely felt good. The race felt okay. I improved by 1 sec. Not bad. It's that learning experience thing. It was pretty much the same race as the last with my 200m splits (34.7, 37, 40, 43, 35)- So now it's trying to find a strategy to have more even splits. I led the way until about the 650 mark, and this is where I've been straggling in many of my races. Three girls passed me and I broke my focus. I've slowly becoming aware that this has been a mental breaking point for me, I've noticed it as well in practices. Not so much of the sense of defeat but more along the lines of losing the concentration. When I'm leading I have nothing to focus on except me, the track & my race, when I'm being passed at any point I shift focus onto the everything but me. I don't regain the focus back until I hit the last 200 and hear the lap bell, but by then I've given up too much time. It's very similar to when you're trying to get a child's attention, so you shake shake some keys or such and they look at you, then they turn back their attention to what they were doing before. That's what my races have been equated to. The distance coach {we'll call him Coach TD...for grace of not keeping names. He's not my coach} jokes with me that I fall asleep in the middle of the race. One amusing part of my night is Coach TD recalled one of the guys while watching my race commented on that I looked like I was dying and he promptly replied no she's just taking a snooze just wait she'll wake up in about 150 meters. I laughed, the infamous kick.
http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/coverage.php?c=172&id=8547 (Video of the 1000m on Fri)

Today in the whole wasn't there. I was present physically (sort of) but I truly wasn't there. The main factor here is sleep. I didn't get home until 11p and I wasn't able to unwind completely for a couple of hours after that. I was supposed to be up by 8a, that didn't happen, I got out of bed around 9:15ish. I knew I'd be cutting myself short since the DMR went off at 10:45a and it takes appx 30 min to get to BU taking the T (I would have drove but parking's more of a hassle than I care to deal with). I got there with an inkling of time to spare. I managed to shave some minutes by getting off the T a few stops earlier and used that as my warmup. Kudos to me for using a bit a ingenuity. Though I had a feeling when I got up that I wasn't up to par it became clearer when I started to do strides. My body felt so heavy and flat. There wasn't any spring in my step. Not being able to back out at this point being as it's a relay and there wasn't anyone there to replace my leg, I just ran to run. I didn't care to get my split time, knowing that if it wasn't what I should have run it would upset me. I ran what I could. I can't change today but I can certainly change tomorrow. I still have 5 months until all of this matters the most. Then I repeat the process again in Dec and it will continue until I stop running at the ripe age of let's say 90. One can only hope!

Believe

Here's an excerpt from the my so called life-haha I think that that show was actually supposed to be made for me, though I can't say I've ever watched it, so maybe just the title was meant for me. Anyways I've been slumming around the past couple of weeks after returning from my vacation, due to losing my job while I was away (it was by no fault of my own, I'm over it, there was nothing I could do) It's been kind of like getting hit by a freight train you didn't see coming, actually it is that, for some time now. I've sent out dozens of resumes, went on countless interviews and so far have come up empty handed. All the while I've been telling myself that everything will work out, just be patient, something will come out of the work. I've been trying to keep up the appearance of it's all good. But truthfully I've been doubting myself, I haven't been fully believing in the things that I keep telling myself. It's that slow creeping doubt, the one that isn't there initially but once it finds it's way in it lingers, then by the time you've flushed the negative thoughts it's too late. You become the victim of self sabotage. All too often I find myself in this tangled web I've spun in all aspects of my life. (Just to clear things I'm not always a "Negative Nelly" by any means, just at times)

Yesterday was the start of Lent. I'm not super crazy religious and what not but I have my beliefs (enough said). Typically I give up a food or something along those lines, this year after countless thinking of what vice I should give up, I decided to give up being negative and all negative thoughts. This all came about because last week I got a book to help guide me some with the mental aspect of my running. To briefly sum up the book, it's mind over matter, positive thinking, visualization techniques, etc., one of those self-help round-a-about kind of things. As I was reading it and contemplating giving up sweets, it came to me...what better way to kick start the mental game then to let go of the If-I-think-of-the-worst-possible-scenario-when-something-turns-out-bad-it-won't-be-as-bad-and when-it-turns-out-good-then-it's-great security blanket.

Well to get to the heart of the story, yesterday I went to a place that I knew was hiring, and filled out an application. The manager gave me an on the spot interview, I also interviewed with the owner. It went very well, and was told that the manager and owner would talk things over the following morning and I'd get a call today if they wanted to set something up with me. I left with a superbly great feeling. I woke up this morning, even with not getting a good night's sleep, very positive. So early this afternoon I decided to give my house a good scrubbing, it's been a tad bit neglected. At this point I hadn't heard anything back from the restaurant, but I made a promise to give up the negativity, so I continued to clean and not get down on it. As I was cleaning I picked a piece of paper and on it was the word "Believe", it happened to be part of a tattoo I started to design about 2 months ago. What's funny about this is on one side was mass doodling and on the other was the lone word without the rest of the design and phrase. I laughed to myself and thought I do need to believe, put the paper away and finished cleaning. I continued to think about that piece of paper and how ironic it was that it pops up in that very moment seeing as I haven't seen the paper in a while and I've been going through this whole epiphany thing. After the cleaning frenzy ended I sat down to check my email. NO joke there in my inbox is an email from the owner saying that the manager was out today and they'd like me to come in on Mon to train/trial period. It's sounds crazy that just thinking of a positive word brings a positive ending but as far as I'm concerned it's one step closer to me believing in me, in all my walks and runs of life!

No pain, no gain...right??

I made the trek up to Dartmouth today so that I could get in an extra race in before the end of the indoor season. I also wanted to change up the scenery and race the mile, to hopefully drop my time from earlier in the season. I ran 5:33.71, which is a second faster than my mile in December. I'd be lying if I said I was pleased with the time, but at the same time I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I honestly should not have ran. So sometime last weekned my calves were getting a little achy but I just kind of pushed it to the back of my mind and iced. It wasn't anything painful until yesterday. When I finished my run, the pain was petty bad. I knew that I had shin splints. As I got ready in the morning I told myself that it's nothing to worry about, hopped in my car and made the 2 hour drive up to NH. I should have scratched, needless to add that I only had my sprint spikes with me...not helping the cause. I sucked it up, what else would a stubborn mule do, and raced the mile in the spikes...yes I hear you all reprimanding me right now. But see it's okay because I have to pay the consequences...because of my pig-headedness I have to take training off and sit on a bike for the next couple of days instead of running!! You see my friends that hurts worse than the pain in shins right now. It all could have been avoided had I just listened to the little aches and voices telling to take it easy. But seriously telling a runner to take it easy is like telling a child not touch something that they really want to touch. You know that 9 times out of 10 they're going to touch it.
So though I'm not happy with the race, I realize that external factors besides my mind contributed to my performance, therefore I can't be too upset about it and dwell on the negative. I'm working being more positive when I don't have a good race. I have the next race. This part of my training might just be more difficult than the physical part. It's a work in progress.

Just a thought

So I'm sent an email that contains a thought of the day. Sometimes I read them, most of the time I just trash it. But the one today kind of struck a chord with me in a few different aspects in my life, one definately being running. It said:
"We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies."— Roderick Thorp
I relate it back to the fact that I'm sometimes a little, ok a lot, hard on myself when I'm not performing up to par, but I'm working on it.

Timely Tuesday

Going into practice tonight I knew that it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. Tuesday workouts normally aren't. As I look through our intervals, my prediction was correct. We had an exceptional workout of 3x200 with 90sec rest between each 200, 3min rest, 2x300 with 2 min between the 300's, 6 min rest...now the fun starts 2x(600, 400, 300, 200, 100), the rest in between each of the interval started at 3min down to 60sec btwn and between the ladders was 6 min. For all you non-runners who won't quite understand what I just said...it basically means many fast laps hard with little time to rest. Oh and jello legs and your lungs coming out of your chest. I was skeptical of being able to keep up with my other 3 teammates but surprisingly I wasn't lagging behind like normal. I hit all my times-though I did cut the 600's back to 400's, for the sake of my legs being completely deteriorated. But most importantly I felt good. Exhausted but good. Now it's time to take a fabulous ice bath. BRRRRRR!! My legs will thank me tomorrow.

Weekend of Disappointment

This past weekend was the BU Terrier Invitational. I was excited to start the weekend off, erase last weekend's races, and come out running strong. Friday was day 1-the women's races. I decided to run the 1000. I seeded myself at 3:17 from my 1000 time earlier in the season at the Northeasten meet, even though I knew that I could absolutely run faster. I figured I'd let the race run itself. Right now I'm not fast enough for the heat I'm in to make that much of a difference. I ended up being in heat 4 of 4. I kept saying that all I really wanted to do was beat my seed time, which would result in a PR, but in the back of my mind I didn't just want to beat that time, I wanted to demolish it. I had visions of sugar plums dancing at 3:00. I played the splits I need to hit to achieve that goal, over and over in my head. Thinking I can absolutely do this no problem. Problem was I didn't do it. I did drop 5sec from my seed time resulting in a 3:12. Okay. Not great, but satisfactory, acceptable since I did PR. Here's wherein lies the fault making it just ok...my 200 splits were 34, 39, 42, 43, 34. So my first lap was fast, it always is, 2nd lap I settled a bit from going a bit fast in the 1st lap...perfect, what happened in laps 3 & 4??? And hello lap 5, a 9 sec drop from lap 4. Not good. I know that it's not the training or the body. I wish I could remember what was going through my head in the middle of the race. I remember the beginning and I clearly remember the end because I heard the last lap bell and took off like a bandit, determined to gain back my place loss. I'm satisfied with the time just disappointed in my performance.
Saturday was day 2- the men's races and the women's DMR. I was slated to run the 800 in the DMR. I woke up excited to race, ready to rock. Told my coach that I was going to run 2:24 since I raced an 800 on that track a month before in 2:25. Piece of cake. Not so much. I wish that I could even say ok. No, the time was unacceptable. It's so bad that I can't & won't even type it. Though my relay mates assure me that they're not upset at my piss poor performance. I just can't accept it. I don't believe that there is any excuse viable for the way I ran. My training's finally gotten aboard from being on vacation for 2 weeks. I felt good. So frustrated with myself. So I do what I do best when I'm upset at something. Sulk then punish myself for not being able to do something right by running excessively. I ran 3 times in the course of the day after my disaster. Let's not forget that I warmed up, and allegedly raced. Ok, I admit I went a bit overboard but it's my way of venting pent up anger. When you hear someone say runner's are a breed of their own...this is some of what they're talking about.
So after a rough weekend, I'm hoping that I can figure out where I'm going wrong. The heart's there, the passion's there, the training's there, the support's there. Now it's a matter of getting everything to work together as one.
http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/coverage.php?c=163&id=7699 (here's video of my 1000 complete with the narrator calling me "Diane" how you get that pronunciation from Deanna I haven't a clue)