Treadmill Tales- Making It Work

At negative numbers, my running buddy and I were worried about nostril frostbite and reynaud's fingers, so we decided to relocate our scheduled Saturday long run to the local YWCA.

How does one crank out 12 miles at the gym?

Here's a play by play:

8 am: Text message exchange ensues.  After much deliberation, we decide 12 miles of treadmill running is pretty hardcore and slipping on the ice is not worth it.
8:30 am: Meet in the lobby.  Remove copious outer layers.
8:35 am: Sign out our two favorite treadmills and get started.
8:40 am: Decide to switch up speed and/or incline every mile.
8:45 am: Catch up on the latest personal goings on.  Hopes for a warm vacation.  Getting stir crazy due to extreme temperatures.  Coziness of motherhood in the winter.  Diaper rash.  Colds.  Cross country skiing adventures.
8:50 am: Crank it up!  Speed + Incline
9:15 am: About 5 miles in.  Water break.  Bathrooms.
9:20 am: Back on treadmills.  Discussion shifts to professional life, projects, and theory.  Documentary film making.  Back to the land movement.  Time to write.  Time to collaborate.  The mother/working woman balance.
9:50 am: Somewhere around 8 miles.  Decide to move our run onto the indoor track.  I am assigned the responsibility for counting laps.  8 laps=1 mile.  My running buddy keeps me entertained with stories of burn parties (controlled fires in rural areas).  We contemplate grant applications and whether people ever really start them more than three days before the deadline.
10:15: Getting Close!  About 1 1/4 left.  Bored of running in circles, we decide to pump out our last mile on the treadmills.
10:20: Back on the treadmills, we crank up the speed and finish strong!
10:30: Done!!!!  We toast water bottles and wipe down our machines.

The real key to an indoor long run is an insightful and interesting conversational partner.  Lucky me, my buddy is a published author and prolific reader.  The woman knows how to tell a story.  If you don't happen to have access to a professional storyteller, I suggest podcasts and audio books or an inspiring mix that you put together for the very purpose of an indoor long run.  And, like I demonstrated in my play by play, keep mixing up pace and incline.  Make mini goals.  Cause, if 12 miles outside seems like a long way, 12 miles of actually going nowhere is a true mind game.

Happy Saturday Long Run

Today's run was with BRB (Best Running Buddy), Rebecca.  We met up at Summit and River Road and ran 10 leisurely miles along the Mississippi River (turning around at the Stone Arch Bridge).  The temperature was a (balmy!) thirty degrees with little wind.  In fact, heading south, we noticed that the wind was helping us with an incline.  Surprised, we exclaimed, "Wait!  Was the wind actually in our faces before?!"  Despite some slushy spots (especially Lake Street Bridge!), it felt wonderful to stretch out the muscles and engage in our usual joyful long run conversation!

As a side note, during the run, I pondered whether there was a specific running group out on river road today with the goal to say a warm hello to every runner, or if it was just the welcome shift in weather.  Truly, I don't believe I've ever got more happy greetings from joggers!

TC 10 mile Race Report: October 6, 2013

Waiting for the start.  All the photos in this post are credit of my running buddy, Rose.

Pre-race smiles in the middle of the pack.

Morning sunlight pouring down Summit Ave.

Another late race report following another satisfying race!  To my good fortune, I was selected to run in the TC 10 mile, the little sister race to the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  Runners are chosen through a lottery system for the TC 10 mile so I always feel pretty lucky when my number gets pulled!
This year, I started the race with a speedy running buddy of mine (and talented photographer as you can see from this photos!).  After a summer of hardcore hiking and training, Rose was ready to PR.  I didn't know what to expect although I hoped to beat my time from Women Run The Cities 10 mile race without overdoing it.  (I still had a half marathon trail race and the Monster Dash Half marathon ahead of me!)
Some of the most memorable moments of this race were before we even arrived at the start line.  The TC 10 mile starts at a very early 7 am in order to clear the line and set up for the marathon's 8 am start.  This is pretty early for a road race, and too early to expect a ride from my dear husband (especially with a six month old to tote along!).  So, Rose (who is an avid biker and major fan of public transportation) encouraged me to rent a "Nice Ride" and bike with her to the Metrodome (which I mistakenly call the "metronome" almost exclusively).  Even though I had never rode a "Nice Ride" before, I thought, "Well, why not!?  It's a good warm up!"
So, with the sky still full of stars, I headed to the nearest nice ride station.  Trouble was...the station wasn't where I remembered.  After a little run up and down Lake Street, I finally found a station, hopped on a bike, and headed to the greenway to meet my buddy.  I could see her light flashing in the distance so I started singing the flying monkey song from Wizard of Oz as I headed towards her.  It felt very surreal!
We arrived at the start line with plenty of time to spare (and just enough time to make it through port-a-pot line...the setting of a second funny pre-race moment...a huge suburban attempted to get out of a parking structure blocked by runners waiting for the port-a-pot...and those runners weren't moving for fear of losing their place in line!  I don't think the driver was prepared for such a hold up!)

At last, the horn sounded, and Rose and I cruised through the first few miles together.  At around mile three, we spotted her husband on the top of the Franklin Bridge.  We waved and yelled at him but he missed us.  Luckily, we ran up the ramp to the bridge itself and caught his attention thanks to Rose's impressive amplification of his last name.  He waved at us and then headed (according to Rose) back to bed.  After crossing Franklin Bridge, I checked in with myself and decided I better pick up the pace if I wanted to PR.  I knew I had more speed in me than I was exerting so I might as well give it a try.  I wished Rose luck and powered on.

The next few miles, I listened to music, tried to catch fit women, and focused on the next mile marker.  Strong.  Steady.  Relaxed.  I told myself.  I breathed, and moved between phases of feeling tired and heavy legged to phases of relaxed strength.  That's the thing with running distance races- I find that the tired phases don't necessarily last the whole race; I just need to hold tight and the tiredness cycles into a steady run again.  Refusing to look at my Garmin, I ran by effort, a strategy that's worked well for me in the past.

As I passed the Cathedral and headed downhill to the Capitol, I saw Mike and Misha waving from the sidelines!  I crossed the finish line and immediately checked my watch- a new 10 mile PR! Mike, Misha and I found each other and headed to the capitol steps to meet Rose.  Not long after, she strolled our direction with a big smile on her face- a PR too!  We were happy campers!

Weekend Run Highlights

Saturday
I planned to run somewhere around 12 miles for Saturday's long run, but due to the steamy temps and my tired legs, I ended somewhere in the 11 mile range including a few walking intervals.  Saturday's saving grace was a running buddy who kept me entertained with explanations of cultural theory and a goal setting session for our thirties.  We wondered...how to be glamorous thirty year-olds on a budget?

We passed a family placing a red wagon and cute blue chair out on the curb.  We confirmed that the goods were free and convinced the family to put the goods in their backyard so we could grab them post-run.  If only folks were leaving little black dresses and kate spade bags curbside...














Sunday
Sunday was an easy five mile run to stretch out my legs after Saturday's slog.  I like to go out with Misha on Sunday am's since we often aren't together anymore in the mornings.  Misha likes to be my coach, smile at me, and look around as we cruise around River Road.

This Sunday, we passed this neighbor kid who offered free lemonade much to the dismay of a second for-profit lemonade stand across the street. I first encountered this do-gooder during my warm up.  He encouraged me to stop, "Just a friendly cup of free lemonade...just a neighborly cup!" he advertised.  I promised I would stop on the way home if he was still there.

Sure enough, buddy boy was at his corner (now with watermelon too!).  I told him I was ready to take him up on the offer.  He was pretty pumped.  We talked business.  Apparently, the market was low.  He was thinking of setting up shop on river road when "that big race happens."  "You mean the Twin Cities Marathon?"  I told him he would have a lot of takers then.  We talked education.  He recommended his school.  "How do you like it?" I asked.  "It's good.  It has a pool," he said.  "Cool."  I told him that Misha wasn't ready for school yet but he is a good running coach.  The kid cheerfully enthused, "He's the team mascot!"

Misha and I on Franklin Bridge on a cloudy Sunday run. 

10 things for a long weekend

Reunions with longtime running buddies

Homemade Pizza and Bezzerwizzer

Getting my fill of talk radio

Run To Unite 

A new book

Meeting little Leo!

Preparing for Summit For Courageous Conversations

Double feature: Argo (100% recommendation) and Looper (I disagree with this review...it's forgettable)

A pretty make-up line

Dreaming about making my own shadow box of keepsakes