CIM Goals & Race Plan

Maybe I should call this post The Art of Racing in the Rain (apologies to Garth Stein, whose book I haven't yet read).

Yes, it's true: "heavy" rain and 18 mile-per-hour winds. If I'm reading the course map right, we'll be running right into those winds for a good chunk of the course. The race is still five days out. I'm hoping that wind forecast will be revised. You can't do anything about wind except maybe draft off of other runners (and when you do that it's only polite to take a turn being the trailblazer yourself)......or revise your finish time expectations.

Rain, however, I can handle. This being high and dry Colorado, I didn't train in it even once, but I used to run in it all the time in Houston and New York City. Here are the tips I plan to follow on race day:

1) Wear a garbage bag while waiting at the start.
2) Wear a baseball cap to keep water from dripping down my face (thanks, Raina, for this one!).
3) Lube up with Body Glide and (on my feet) Vaseline.
4) Have a friend hold dry socks and shoes somewhere on the course. Lucky for me my old friend Angela is coming from the Bay Area to watch, though she may change her mind when she sees that forecast.
5) Change quickly after finishing into dry clothes.

You can't do anything about the weather except try to make the best of it. Those of you who ran the Boston Marathon earlier this year know that all too well.

My taper runs this week have gone well, including the 4x1 mile at race pace workout I had yesterday. I ran it on the treadmill at a 1% incline with each mile at an 8:27 pace. My heart rate cooperated nicely, staying between 155-163 on all four miles.

That positions me nicely to go with the plan Darren and I discussed on Saturday afternoon. Darren, like my husband Dan and like me, said his only concern is whether I've done enough time on my feet (long runs). Due to my back issue and a September cold, we couldn't ramp up to the point where I could get in a really good number of 3-hour-plus length runs. But on the other hand, I did well in my half-marathon in October, I've felt good during the training since then and I'm feeling healthy and rested. Even my twingy hamstring has cooperated for the last three weeks.

So Darren thinks if all comes together, I can get the Boston qualifying time of 3:44:59 or better.

So that's my goal: 3:44:59

Here's how he wants me to execute:

1) Run about an 8:30 pace for the first half. That would put me through the half-marathon mark at 1:51:30. A little slower is OK, but he absolutely does not want to see anything faster.
2) After the halfway point, I'm allowed to pick up the pace if I'm feeling good. He thinks 8:20 to 8:25 miles at this point would be safe, but NOTHING faster than 8:20. I'm to hold these paces through Mile 22 if possible.
3) After Mile 22, if I've been able to hold the pace, I can either speed up more if I'm still feeling good OR slow down a tad if I'm feeling tight or tired. If I do slow down, he thinks I should still try to maintain 8:40s in order to make my time goal.
4) I'm not to worry about my heart rate, though I do plan to have the strap on (liberally lubed with Body Glide) so I can analyze it later.

 Here are some additional things I plan to do:

1) Start with the 3:45 pace group. As long as they are not running faster than 8:30/mile, I'll stick with them through around 15 miles. If they're a little slower (like 8:34 or so), it's probably to my advantage. Slower at the beginning is good.
2) Wear my pace bands from Races2Remember in case the pace group doesn't work out (maybe because they are going too fast). These will save me from trying to do math with an increasingly addled brain.
3) Turn on the tunes at Mile 18. This really helped with "the Wall" in Houston and I hung on to it as as reward for getting through the earlier miles according to plan.
4) Carry a bottle for the first few miles at least so that I don't have to scrum at crowded aid stations. Ditch the bottle when things spread out and it starts to bug me to have it in my hand.
5) Stick to my trusty Shot Bloks with water every 4 miles or so for fuel. (Darren thinks I need to learn to love sports drink, but we agree we'll save that task for the next marathon.)

I'm rooming with Tricia, and am very excited for her to finish her first marathon, which I think she'll do in style. There will also be numerous other bloggers there. I'm excited to meet Amanda, Margot, XLMIC and others.

And I'm VERY excited to see Angela. I've known her since first grade. Her whole family is an inspiration and not just in running (though they excel at that). She's mentioned in my first post on this blog. It would be an honor if I could qualify for Boston with her there.

Getting back to the issue of the wind....I will be unhappy if it doesn't turn out to be the perfect day. I'll be disappointed if I don't meet my goal for this race. But I'm determined that ONLY something like weather, which is totally beyond my control, will keep me from it this time. Damnit, all you can do is try. In marathons, even on perfect days, you NEVER know.

As the author I mentioned at the beginning of this post put it: "There is no dishonor in losing the race. There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose."

I'll see you guys on the other side!

Kicking My Bootie

THIS is tapering???? says Terzah the Tortoise. :^)

I may be tapering, but today you could have fooled me.

My alarm woke me at 4:30 so I could get to the gym when it opened at 5 for my Tuesday speed workout.

This was only the third time this entire cycle (including the lead-up to the Detroit half-marathon) that I've gotten on a treadmill. The weather has been amazing, warm and calm and clear. It's been fantastic to train outside so late in the year. But today marked the second week I've done the Tuesday workout on the treadmill. I typically have to get up earlier on Tuesday than any other day. I like running in the dark, but only when I can let my mind wander and the miles flow by at a comfortable pace.

And Tuesday paces.....aren't comfortable. Darren's had me doing increasingly faster-paced workouts--and it was getting hard (by myself, in the dark, groping to light up the Garmin to see my heart rate and pace) to push my legs to the point where the heart rate stayed above 170 or higher as long as he had asked. So I asked him if I could do these inside, and he said yes, provided I keep the incline at 1%.

Here's what he had me doing between 5:30 and 6:45 a.m. today:

After a warm-up and some strides:
2 miles at HR 160-165 (two min active rest)
then 3 x 1/2 mile at HR 170-175 (two min active rest after each)
then another 2 miles at HR 160-165 (two min active rest)
then 3 x 1/2 mile at HR 170-175

This is how that translated into pace:
1st 2 mile--paces between 8:00-and 8:47
1/2 mile--6:58-7:30 pace
1/2 mile--7:05--7:30 pace
1/2 mile--7:05-7:30 pace
2nd 2 mile (the disappointing one; legs felt like rubber)--huge range between 8:27 and 9:30; I was able to ramp back down to 8:47 in the 2nd mile and still keep HR at or under 165, but just barely
1/2 mile--6:58--7:24
1/2 mile--6:58--7:24
1/2 mile--6:53 (!)--7:12 (happy with these; not sure why they stayed fast when the 2 mile preceding them was so slow, but I'll take it)

The total with the warm-up and cool-down came to about 9 miles. I was proud of myself...and pretty much ready to crawl back into bed.

BUT it was time to meet Colleen for the last of our four pre-California International Marathon weight sessions.

Another blogger with a hamstring issue emailed me last week to ask what Colleen is having me do to keep my own occasional right-hammy flare-up under control, so I thought I'd share that here. The answer is: a lot of hamstring-strengthening exercises and a lot of glute exercises. And by "a lot" I mean A LOT more than I've ever done before.

Today, for example, we did hamstring curls on a special bench designed for that purpose, raising the weight with two legs, then lowering it with one. We also did two sets of hamstring curls on a Swiss ball (with a small weighted ball between my knees to bring my adductors into the game). We also did balancing lunges with my back leg dangling from a rope loop. We also did bridges and clam shells for the glutes, and side walking with my ankles bound up in one of those rubber band ropes. There were also upper-body exercises and calf strengtheners.

Between all of those, we did LOTS of core--side planks, crunches on and off the ball, curl-ups on an angled bench...You've probably done or at least seen most of what we do. It's just that with Colleen, I do much more of it.

Finally, throughout the workout (not just at the end), we stretch, especially those hamstrings (though we do it gently).

Colleen has had hamstring issues a lot of her career, too, and she said that whenever she slacks off the hamstring exercises her issues return. When her hamstring is sore, she says, she eases into the work, maybe lifting only ten pounds with the "bad" side--but weight training is part of what she does. Always.

That's a good lesson for me. I've always found weight training dull, and even when I've been faithful about it, I've never trained as hard as I have with Colleen. It's been an eye opener.

So after getting my bootie kicked twice, first by a world-class coach and then by a world-class runner (who is a fantastic personal trainer; I recommend her to all my Colorado running friends), I went to the dentist, squeezed in an hour nap....and then went to work.

Taper ain't never been like this before!

Detroit Half-Marathon Goals & Plan

I hung up the phone after talking to my coach, Darren, about the Detroit Half-Marathon, and I was so excited and scared I was shaking. He thinks I'm ready to run a 1:45.

My half-marathon personal best is a bit over 1:56, and that was run well over a year ago. My longest run in this training cycle was a slow 10 miles. My right hamstring is twingy (though happier right now thanks to a massage and the taper), and my back, while it's much better, hasn't been tested in a race yet. Right now, it's a little before 4 a.m. on the day Dan and I are flying out for race weekend. I've been awake since 2, mulling this over, trying to quiet the butterflies in my stomach. Not sleeping.....isn't so good ahead of a big race.

It seems so strange that someone (even someone as experienced in these matters as Darren) thinks I can pull out my fastest half-marathon ever with all of that working against me. But this is why I needed a coach.....

.....so I'm going to keep trusting him...and go for it.

Here are my goals for Detroit:

A Goal: 1:45

B Goal: sub 1:50

C Goal: beat my old PR

So how is this to be done?

The first thing I have to deal with is getting into a faster corral. My bib number (17555 for those who want to track me) has been assigned to Corral L--which is the very back, near the "last chance" pacer, who will be shooting for an 18-minute-per-mile pace. I've emailed the race organizers about this. They told me to pick up my bib and head to the "Solutions" booth to try to get that corral changed.

The second thing I plan to do is join the 1:45 pace group, which is in Corral C. Darren told me to watch the pace carefully at the beginning, checking in not only with how I'm feeling but also with how fast the pacer is going. We should, Darren said, be sticking to a range between 7:55 and 8:05. Any faster than that, he says, and I am to drop back out of the group and stay as close to 8 minute miles as I can, as long as that feels good.

And he says it should feel good. On Tuesday, I ran five four-minute tempo intervals, all under a 7:45 pace, with four of them, including the last one, under 7:40. My heart rate mostly stayed in the tempo range of 164-168 through all of them, spiking to 170 at a couple of points but no higher than that even once. Going 20 seconds per mile slower than that, Darren said, "is huge." Plus, he reminded me, I will be at sea level.

So what if 8-minute miles don't feel good? In that case, he wants me to drop back and run with the 1:50 group, staying with them unless I start to feel stronger, in which case I try to push back up to the 1:47 and 1:45 groups again. (The Detroit Half is with the full marathon for 13 miles, so we have the advantage of sharing the marathon pace groups.)

Other things: warm up, and then try to keep my heart rate higher before the gun goes off. One thing I've learned about myself through heart-rate training is that I'm a slow warmer-upper (and you can see this in the first mile of almost every race I've run). Doing strides in a giant race like this, where we'll have to be lined up in corrals early, could be tough. But I'll do my best.

During the race, I'm supposed to watch my pace and how I feel, not worrying about heart rate. That said, it will be really interesting to me after the race to see how my heart was doing at various points.

I'm also going to try to enjoy the weekend leading up to the main event. Kathy, my old friend and Houston Marathon compatriot, who is running the full marathon in Detroit, has been an amazing hostess already (and we--myself and several members of her running group--aren't even there yet). She's picking many of us up at the airport, and there's a tasty dinner planned at her in-laws house on Saturday night (not to mention a BBQ feast planned for Sunday night after the race). So once I get the corral issue dealt with, I'm hoping to relax, enjoy some kid-free down time with Dan....and hopefully get lots more sleep than I'm getting right now.

I'm scared, but I'm excited. Darren knows what he's doing, and I know what to do. Now I just have to do it.

Still Resting.....

Between Dan (husband) and Darren (coach), I may never be allowed to run again!

Just kidding.

If I'd listened to Dan last week, I might be well and running today.

As it is, I'm missing not only runs but work. My voice is back, but still more like that of a teenage boy than my real voice, and I woke at 3:30 a.m. today with the kind of dry cough that won't let you sleep. Around 5, thanks to lots of water and two cough drops, I was able to doze off on the couch.

You can bet I'm going to listen to Dan now. And to Darren. Who drastically cut my running for the past weekend and the week ahead: none allowed Saturday, Sunday or today, and tomorrow is an iffy easy 30 minutes. I'm betting he'll nix that one, too, once he hears about last night and the coughing. If all is well, I'll be allowed to do a 70-minute progression run this weekend, but he's already said no to upping that back to the 90-minute version I would have done this past weekend (yeah, I asked).

I'm not really as grumpy about all this as I'm sounding. I know that this is what being smart looks like, and that this is the kind of rest that most of us don't allow ourselves when we get sick or start to feel an injury coming on. Like oxen hitched to a plow, we keep.....plowing. And that's NOT how you get better. It's another great thing about hiring a coach. There's someone objective out there telling you in ALL CAPS to slow-the-eff-down.

The way I see it, my job right now is to take a nap, drink lots of water and tea and read until I fall asleep. There is a blue sky ahead. In his note denying my request to go 90 minutes this weekend, Darren wrote:
...want to make sure you are completely healthy before going hard for two weeks prior to Detroit Half.

Going hard....yes, I'm going super easy today so I can go hard when the time is right.

A Scolding from the Coach

I'm enjoying my training right now, feeling like I'm in a groove, feeling like a real runner again.

Where do real runners go to do intervals? The track, of course! So when Darren assigned me some speed work last Tuesday, I headed over to the nearby high school track to get them done. They weren't anything that sounded hard on paper: six 2.5-minute intervals at a heart rate between 168 and 172. But mid-way through I had that dead-legged feeling, that sluggish "ugh" feeling, and only the idea that Darren felt I could handle them got me through them without quitting.

I went home to get ready for the day feeling triumphant, and happily reported back to Darren with the details.

That evening, I got the following email:

Hi Terzah

Just looked at your workout summary from today and this is your first SCOLDING...if I put track on your schedule then go on the track...but if it's a fartlek or something measured but not the track...please stay off the track. I am a firm believer that tracks injure athletes and I certainly don't want that happening to you.

Looked like you were running strong though...nice.

Regards
Darren

I was so excited to be SCOLDED (and then told that I appeared to have been running strong) that I went and got Dan so he could read it too. I knew Dan would get it.

"Wow," he said. "That's awesome! He cares!"

Later I told Dr. Hansen about it, too. He laughed and said it won't be my last scolding. I wrote Darren back and promised no more tracks unless specifically told to go to the track. If I need a flat, soft surface, my ponds are a much prettier (and less creepy at 5:30 a.m.) place anyway.

It's been a crazy week since then. On Friday I had brunch in Denver with Kathy, and then went home, packed, got the kids from school and drove them up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a late summer camping weekend with their former classmates from preschool. It was wonderful: fresh air, chilly temperatures, shooting stars, grubby five-year-olds...But I'm glad the next few weeks will be strictly on the routine. We'll see if I can avoid another scolding!

What do you think about the idea that tracks injure runners? It must have been in the back of my mind even before Darren said something, because I ran the first three intervals in one direction and then turned around to do the other three in the opposite direction.

Lactate Threshold Test!

I mentioned in my last post how much I would like to run a race.

Well, today I got to (sort of). I ran my long-awaited 2-mile lactate threshold test for Darren.

Darren sends me the week's workouts every Sunday, so that's when I found out I had the test on tap for today. Even though this sort of test is NOT a race--it's an all-out effort done to establish proper heart rate ranges for various training workouts--I got almost as nervous as if it were. I haven't run "all-out" anything since February. I've only rarely ever run an all-out 2-miler. And I had no idea how I would manage to run that fast AND take 1/4-mile split times and heart rates.

Fortunately Darren was able to meet me at Flatiron Athletic Club (the setting of this post from a long time ago) to supervise my run on the treadmill. It was the first time I've run for him, which upped the adrenaline factor even more but also reduced the nervousness because he'd be there to help me push the pace, record the splits--and just generally get it done.

I arrived a half-hour early to warm up, stretch and do some strides. Out in the car just before I went inside the club, the new song by Mumford & Sons, whom Dan and I will be seeing at Red Rocks Amphitheater tomorrow night, came on the radio. If you haven't heard it yet, it's amazing. I listened to the whole thing, hoping the words "...feel my heart slow...." would somehow trickle into my test time.

Once inside and ready to go, I chose a treadmill on the end of a row so Darren would be able to see the screen. Then I ran a very slow 15-minute warm-up, did my stretches from Dr. Hansen and climbed back on the machine for four 25-second strides.

Somewhere in the middle of the slow 15 minutes, I acquired a neighbor to my immediate left. She seriously looked like Atalanta herself--tall, not an ounce of body fat, sponsored jersey. She started her warm-up at just a little slower than where I expected to be for my all-out test, and after a while launched into intervals at a 5-minute-per-mile pace. I just had to laugh. This kind of thing happens to me whenever I go into that club.

Darren got there right on time, and we pretty much launched straight into it, starting at an 8:30 pace, but ratcheting that down pretty quickly to 8 minutes/mile even. After that, Darren lowered it again every quarter mile, and as we got nearer the end more often than that. I pushed the lap button on my Garmin every quarter mile to record my time and heart rate for the split.

It's so great to have a coach. At one point early in the first mile he told me I wasn't running hard enough "because you can still talk and laugh." Which made me laugh a little more. Until he duly increased the pace. He also at one point stood behind me to give my form a look. Apparently I was almost entirely on my toes, fine for going fast but maybe not for a long race. But overall, he said, my form is good. He said some other things I can't remember, because I was starting to hurt by the end of that first mile.

I don't remember much of the second mile. I do recall being really hot, and trying to say the lyrics to the Mumford & Sons song in my head and losing the thread really quickly. (Darren said: "Hot? Hot is OK.") At one point I tried to look at the TV above the treadmill and was unable to concentrate enough to register what was on. Darren at this point was reminding me to concentrate on form, remember the core work I've been doing, so I tried. But he also kept pushing that pace, so every now and then I'd check in and realize I was doing that loping tired thing. At the end, all I could do was think of the number that would end that quarter split and of getting to it. The last tenth of a mile he had me at a 6:30 pace.

And then it was over. I did the two miles in 15:13:37. My first mile was 7:53 and my second 7:20. I noticed my fleet-footed neighbor had left at some point. Darren hung around a little longer and took my heart rate again two minutes after I finished. It had fallen from 177 to 133. Then he was off to a master's swim workout and I was on my own to cool down and do my weights/core routine.

Now how do I feel, six hours later? A little headachy--I probably should have hydrated better afterwards. A lot hungry. A little elated, because I can still run sort of fast (for me). I plugged the time into the McMillan Calculator, and while I've definitely lost some of my fitness since the Houston Marathon, it's at a place I can work with. I'm VERY glad I worked that recumbent bike so hard all spring. And I'm feeling VERY grateful to have hired a coach.

Now I'm waiting for him to send me my training paces. Now, I feel, the real training is beginning.

13 weeks to the California International Marathon. 13 weeks, and a lot of work to do.

Darren's Answer, A Scary Sight and Summer Travels

When I got my answer from Darren about whether he thought I should be a pacer for one of those brave and hardy souls who run the Leadville Trail 100, it was what I expected. Here it is verbatim:

...definitely a no on the seconding this year...running that slow pace will not be good for your back and hamstrings. Unfortunately, we need to be somewhat selfish and focus on Terzah and getting you healthy and ready for your upcoming races.


So there you have it! I was sure enough of the answer that I actually said "No" the day I wrote the original blog post.

There's plenty of adventure to be had around here without Leadville. Tomorrow is my next physical therapy appointment, the one where I'll find out whether or not I'm headed for a shot in the back. I think I am. It's been more than four months since I started with PT, dry needling and massage, and while my core is noticeably (if not visibly) stronger, back pain is still a constant in my life. A shot can do a lot to calm inflammation that isn't responding to exercise, ice or courses of ibuprofen, all of which I've tried.

I've heard stories from people who've had shots, only to find the relief from them was temporary. I'm hoping that by continuing to be diligent about my core, I'll be in the camp of folks who are effectively cured by the shot. We'll see. I'm not nervous about the shot itself. I know it will hurt afterwards, maybe a lot, but I had a spinal when I had my C-section, so I know I can handle the actual needle part of it. And a few days of pain will be worth it to run and sleep pain-free.

I've had plenty of adventure on non-running fronts as well lately.

On an unhappy note: This morning, while on my way to the gym at 5:30 a.m., I was driving about two blocks from my house when I saw one of the beautiful little bungalows that characterize my neighborhood engulfed in flames. Both the front and back doors were alight. I stopped the car, grabbed my phone to call the fire department and headed toward the house, planning to knock on windows in case the occupants were in there asleep. Fortunately, their next door neighbors had beaten me to it. I watched as they lifted the family (a dad, mom and a 2-year-old) out of a first-floor window. They had already called the firemen. With nothing more for me to do, and my car in the way, I continued on to the gym to do my workout. It took me a good 15 minutes, though, to be calm enough to concentrate on the intervals I was supposed to be knocking out on the recumbent bike.

Later, I read that the police suspect arson. I'm no detective, but I had wondered too. It was just too weird that both the front and back doors would be on fire, but not the parts of the house in between. Scary. It brought to mind every weird person I've ever seen wandering my neighborhood, including one guy I saw around the same time of morning on my street two weeks ago when I was leaving for a run. He was walking slowly, staring at houses, and jumped when he heard my front door open (I have to drive to my runs for now, so I wasn't worried about him from my own personal safety point of view). I saw him again 45 minutes later when I was on my way back from the run, still wandering around the neighborhood. I know that person and this morning's fire are probably unrelated, but that's what witnessing something like that will do to your mind.

Shudder. I'm just glad they got the family out.

On a happier note: Over the weekend we took our kids camping with four other families from their preschool. It was an absolute blast (though my back does NOT like sleeping on the ground). If you're wondering how best to make little kids fall in love with sleeping outdoors, I recommend doing it with plenty of friends around for them to play with. We got home yesterday grubby, exhausted...and totally refreshed by our time out there. Even trips to the bathroom while camping can be magical. Ruthie, my daughter, saw a shooting star on one such trip, and I saw the Milky Way for the first time since our last camping trip last fall.

We have another trip coming up where we won't be camping (the cabin we've rented has comfy beds and a kitchen), but it will be rustic in the sense that "the facilities" are an outhouse and we have to hike to a main lodge to shower. Not sure how I'll get my workouts in during that time, but I do expect it to be fun!

Finally, after much discussion, Dan and I decided to go ahead and send the twins alone on a plane to visit my mom. They leave this Saturday. Tipping the scales in favor of this were 1) I can't take off work for long, but I can take enough time off to fly out at the end of their stay for a couple of days and then fly back with them, and they'll get a much longer visit with their grandparents than they would if they had to wait for me to be able to come for the whole thing, 2) it's only a one-hour flight and the airline (Southwest) takes good care of kids traveling alone and 3) Dan and I are excited about having some alone time together, even though we both have to work. What's good for our marriage is good for our kids.


This also fits in philosophically with my own desire that my kids learn, from an early age, that there are many things they CAN do on their own, that (when equipped with the right tools, such as, in this case, memorized cell phone numbers and good manners) they needn't be afraid in the world and that independence from Mommy and Daddy in age appropriate ways is a good thing. There are a lot of scary stories out there, but I firmly believe that these are magnified by the prevalence of the media in our lives and that the world my kids live in is much safer than even the (still safe) one I grew up in. I was allowed to walk home from the school bus stop alone from the early elementary grades. Ditto for going to the park or getting myself on my bike to a friend's house. I do not believe that very many people at all in the world I live in would ever harm my children, and I do believe that many would go out of their way to help them.


I know everyone has their own opinions and that everyone's kids' thresholds for this kind of thing are different. But if you're interested in learning more about "free range parenting," check out this blog. I read it regularly.

Why I'm Glad I Hired a Coach

Two weeks ago, the part of my right hamstring just above the knee began to bug me. After a week, it had tightened a little more. For three nights in a row I iced it. This helped. But on Saturday night it was still bugging me.

Since I hired Darren as my coach last month, Sunday has continued to be my one day of scheduled rest each week. Usually, I take a walk and do my Pilates routine. I have the energy, and I feel better doing something small than I feel doing nothing. This past week, due to the hamstring thing, I did absolutely nothing on Sunday. And on Sunday, I mentioned the hamstring for the first time in the online running log I keep for Darren.

The next morning, which was yesterday, I was reminded of why I have a coach. Darren had sent me this week's workouts before I mentioned the hamstring, but after that mention I found a note from him saying he'd modified the run scheduled for today: no strides as had been the original plan, he said; instead, I should run easy. He also gave me the name and number of a chiropractor and ART specialist, in case the problem persists.

Can I just say....it was so nice to have that decision made so quickly and firmly on my behalf. In the past, with the various aches and pains I get that all runners get, I've been pretty bad about erring on the side of "doing the workout as written anyway" rather than being careful. Sure, for something really bad, I might consult my blog readers, or my husband. And if there were a race in the picture, I might even call my doctor. But mostly I just relied on my own judgment. Which is faulty, because my own judgment fears appearing to be wimping out.

I wish I'd mentioned the hamstring to Darren sooner. From now on, when I'm sure some pain is real pain (as opposed to ephemeral and more normal soreness), I'm going to say something to him as soon as I start wondering myself.

I'm also going to consult him when certain opportunities arise. Today I got an email from an acquaintance who has a friend running the Leadville Trail 100 next month. This friend needs a pacer for 8 miles or so. Pacing someone in this epic race is definitely something on my bucket list, and saying no to these kinds of adventures is hard for me. Last year, I jumped onto a Colorado Relay team as a sub--just three weeks before my goal race at the time, the Top of Utah Marathon.

Looking back on it, I don't think I damaged the race by doing the relay, and I certainly had fun and felt good about helping out a friend (I love relays). On the other hand, would getting normal sleep and doing the scheduled long run that weekend have been better for me than driving across Colorado, spending all night in a van, breaking the run into four parts and sleeping very little? Probably.

Qualifying for the Boston Marathon is my number one goal. Getting healthy for the California International Marathon in December is the next step I need to take toward that goal. I'm still not sure my back will be up for that kind of terrain next month. Therefore, I don't know that pacing someone at Leadville this year is the best idea.

I sent Darren a note to ask what he thinks. What do you think he'll say?

A New Chapter

When my husband, Dan, decided late last year that he wanted to re-learn the violin, he knew almost immediately that he wanted to hire a teacher. He had started playing when he was in third grade and he played through high school, dipping into it again in college, before dropping it entirely as his working life got underway. But everywhere he moved, his violin went with him.

When he started again, some things came back to him quickly. But he knew that to fine-tune his technique, to keep him accountable and to get him going at the right pace (not too hard, not too easy), he wanted professional guidance. He found a teacher and has been working with her since late winter. His first recital is planned for this fall. His ultimate goal: to play in a community orchestra.

For similar reasons, today I hired a coach.

I'm on the cusp of recovering from this back thing. I'm to the point now where I....just know I'm better. I still have bad moments, but now they're almost always limited to the mornings, when I'm stiff from being still all night. Some gentle yoga moves and a sweaty cardio workout usually are enough to deal with it. On really bad days, I might also need an hour or two in my sacro-iliac belt. And that's it. My next appointment with Cathy, my physical therapist, is Tuesday. I've been faithfully doing my PT and Pilates exercises. I'm feeling very optimistic.

But I'm truly clueless about how to ease myself back into running in a way that's not too hard (so that I re-injure my back, or injure something else) but not too easy either. I still have goals for this year.

I have two races already booked, the Detroit Marathon on October 21 and the California International Marathon on December 2. I thought about buying another custom plan from McMillan Running. I'm a huge fan of these plans as a cost-effective way to get some personalization in your training. Greg McMillan (he of the calculator) is a fantastic coach.

But with my back an unknown, with all the usual unknowns like illness, plus the fact that I'd really like one of those two races to be the One where I reach my Boston Marathon qualifier goal, a static plan, even a really good custom one, just wasn't going to offer me enough guidance. Many other bloggers have had great experiences with coaching. So I talked to Dan about the cost issue, did some research into what the going rate is....and made up my mind that now is the time.

I'm really happy with the coach I've found. His name is Darren De Reuck. He's the husband and long-time coach of Colleen De Reuck, who has been in the Olympics four times and still wins races at age 48. He's also coached my friend Cynthia, who came to running recently as cross-training for mountain biking, fell in love with it and, with Darren's workouts, has achieved all of her running goals up to this point.

My new coach, Darren, and his awesome wife, Colleen. I've run well behind them in many a local race. It's nice to say I have Darren on my team now!

Darren's also local, and I really wanted someone local because the other thing that's been lacking in my training has been group workouts. I'm working with him through Boulder Coaching (which also coaches runners and triathletes remotely), but the $90/month package I went with will allow me to join his elite group, the Boulder Striders, in their weekly track workouts when he thinks I'm ready (he assured me they have pace groups--a big relief given that I know how fast those Striders are!). After years of being intimidated by the Boulder running scene, I'm excited that I'm now going to put it to work for my own running.

I sat down this morning with Darren and mapped out a plan for the summer and fall. Here are the highlights:

1) Even if Cathy OKs me on Tuesday to run outside, Darren wants me to stick with the recumbent bike and the Alter-G next week. If I get the OK, the following week he'll incorporate some easy 20 minute runs outside. He wants me to keep outside runs on relatively level gravel tracks indefinitely.

2) I will be running the Detroit Half-Marathon instead of the marathon. The California International Marathon will be my goal race.

3) Local races will be sprinkled throughout my training, but we're waiting to see how my return to running goes before I actually sign up for any of them.

4) Once I've got a good four weeks of recovery runs under my belt and have proven that my back is truly stable, Darren's going to have me do a lactate threshold test (in the form of an all-out 3,200 meter run). This will determine my heart rate ranges for the workouts he'll be prescribing.

Cynthia was right about Darren. He's very nice, and un-intimidating despite his amazing resume. I really appreciate that that he asked about my kids and told me about his kids (he has two daughters) and that he said helping mid-packers is just as satisfying to him as a coach as helping Olympians. I joked with him that if I actually get to run the Boston Marathon, I plan to wear a tiara. To which he said--and he was serious--"No, you won't. You'll be racing Boston, too!"

My kind of coach!

I know hiring a coach is no guarantee that I will meet my goals. In the end, I'll still be alone out there in Sacramento with a marathon in front of me. But I feel like I have an ally now, someone else who will see my success as his own success.

Running, like the violin, requires the right touch. Since I'm still learning, and probably always will be, I'm so happy to have the guidance of a good teacher. I am one lucky girl. Big thanks to Dan for letting me hire Darren.