40 squared

I have a vague recollection of being out for a 13 mile run on my 26th birthday and thinking hey, wow, I'm running half the distance of my age. That is awesome! (at the time the thought of doing a marathon, well, it didn't exist). My deal with running was that I wanted to be able to keep doing it until I was old and gray. So at that point the only run for me greater than 13 miles was 15, to which I recall serious agony, I knew this would be the last year I was going to run half my age on my birthday. So I was trying to think of what I would want to be able to accomplish when I was old and gray, which in my 26 year old mind was 40. I decided that since I was a 40 mile a weeker then, I would make a pact with myself that the week I turn 40, I still run a 40 mile week.

I turn 40 in 2 days. The thought of a 40 mile week doesn't scare me, as I am still a 40 mile a weeker, and I usually shoot for 45. But, as I've gotten older, gone are the days that I go out for a run at 2am in order to hit my 40 mile mark for the week. Probably once a month, I accept a 30 mile week. (Now mind you, these days, I count my pool run miles, but I learned in the last 2 years, those miles count just as much!)

Trying to get ready for the cruise and loose ends tied up, my 40 mile mark is with me constantly in the back of my head. How to make sure I do it, especially when I crapped out over the weekend. Now, I ran 10 on Monday, I ran 6 yesterday morning, and 7 in the pool last night (that's 1:10 of pool running) and this morning I need to run 10, that will leave the mileage count at 33 and then I just need to run 7 before Sunday. I am hopeful I can accomplish this task, before lazy vacation mode occurs.

It occurs to me now that I've made no goals for myself past 40, as if I'll just stop aging now. Should I run a 50 mile week when I turn 50? I'm pretty sure I will, although I'm more than sure it will consist more of pool running then land running. But, hey, I'm ok with that.

Some of the other goals I set for myself was to run some PR's after I turned 40. I've been putting in some hard training this summer, and have the Philadelphia Distance Run as the race I hope to peak at. The cruise is the only obstacle in the way of a stellar PR there. My great running coach told me the most important thing is not to gain 20 pounds by eating everything in site. Now, I love to eat, but what I remember on the last cruise, is all the drinking. I felt like I needed detox after the cruise ended!

So, I'm going to try, and I'm not sure I'll be successful, to run at least 3 days during the cruise. I won't be picky if it's in the water, just enough to keep some fitness!

Okay, my flight takes off tomorrow and this afternoon, it's off to drop Dash off at Grandpa's. I went and bought her a new bear for the stay (she gets a new one every six months, it just depends on whether she treasures it or destroys it). As you can see for the photo, this one looks like a treasure. Let's hope Mr. Pumpkin doesn't destroy it! ;)

Harris Teeter or Bust, BUST

Well, I was supposed to run the Harris Teeter 10k yesterday, but instead had some acid reflux issues that caused me to lose a bit of my breakfast on my warm up run. I thought I would be okay, but when I started the race, something just didn't feel right. Anyway, I bailed out the first mile, went home and thought maybe I'd feel better, but instead I wound up moping around, tired, with a killer headache. I find it really annoying, as I felt stellar all week and although the race was going to be a hot one, I was looking forward to seeing where my training was at.

Oh well, this week it's going to be all about the cruise. We leave on a cruise on Saturday (Carnival, a newer ship, which I hear is much better than the OLD carnival stories). I'm most excited for this cruise, the only vacations Tim and I take, we usually have his daughter and it's usually to his folks house in North Carolina. Not that they are not nice people, it's just not a vacation. So this will be our first vacation together since 2006 and I am looking forward to just relaxing.

Not that we're going to be relaxing, our excursions have been booked and we have a pretty busy itinerary; Ocean Racing in St. Thomas, ATV across Antigua, Cruising to Virgin Gorda and relaxing in the baths and then hitting Atlantis' humongous water park! Having been watching the Superstars show, which is set in Atlantis, we're pretty stoked for that one!

I groomed Dash yesterday for her stay with my dad while we're away. She is a real beeyotch about getting groomed, so there are a few uneven areas about her that I'll have to sneak up on her before we leave and take care of!

The Beginning

So, I've had this blog for probably a year and this will be my first post. I think what I would like to do is blog about my dog Dash, the benefits of pool running as cross training for runners and finally, since we pretty much watch a movie every night, I'll do a little DVD review as well.

First, let me tell you a little bit about me. I was extremely inactive during my school years, as I had alot of leg issues and 2 knee surgeries to which I was told I would never be involved in sports and if I didn't have both my knees replaced by the time I was 25, I would be in a wheelchair. (but that is a another blog for a different day)

That being said, my workout routine was a stationary bike and a rowing machine. When I was 20, I decided to run a mile and it took me 20 minutes to do it. I made a promise to myself that I would run a mile everyday regardless of how much I liked it. So for about 6 months I ran a mile everyday until I was down to a 10 minute mile. My dad who traveled alot, was back in town and told me that he would run the mile with me, but let's do HIS route. Now my dad is one of those liars who tell you it's just a mile, but it's really 3. So, I took the car out and realized what we did was 3 miles and I felt good, so I decided I would run that route 5 days a week! The next week I was running 15 miles a week, which to me was completely incredible.

The next thing I know, Dad's got me signed up for the Long Island Half Marathon (I'm orginally from Long Island, although I now reside in Northern VA) and I thought he was CRAZY. I could not run a half marathon. But, I went and on my own started training (we didn't have internet and I wasn't subscribing to runner's world, so it was best guess). Anyway, I wound up beating my dad in the Half Marathon and I was completely hooked on running. I was up to 40 mile weeks by the time the 1/2 rolled around and I decided I never wanted to deal with building up the mileage, so I tried to keep a 40 mile week going.

That was not quite 20 years ago. As for the knees, I've kept up a 40 mile week pretty much with injury exceptions, and illnesses. I've run 6 marathons (although I was running 13 years before attempting one) and Boston Marathon 2 times. Sadly about 2 years ago (August '07) my 'good' knee (which just means the one that isn't in as bad a shape) was bothering me and my knee doctor told me that I was forming bone spurs in the knee joint and the running at this point wasn't helping. I needed to back off running so many miles. Well, I love running and really didn't like this idea, because I HATE biking. When I used to get injured, I would go to the pool and pool run and that always seemed to keep me fit.

Now, in the last few years, I started running with a group, Capital Area Runners, and my great running coach informed me that I only needed 3 days of running a week to stay fit for races! I then found some very good articles regarding pool running and they stated that in order to calculate distance, you don't do the actual distance in the pool, it's a minute for minute, run-pool ratio. So I calculate that 90 minutes of pool running is a 10 mile run and 60 minutes is a 6-7 mile run. Since fall of 2007 I have been substituting 2 of my weekly runs for pool runs.

I will tell you my success in the next blog!