SAN ANTONIO TRAINING BLOGS
Katie Sutton
Age: 29
Race: Half Marathon
Blog 1: Howdy Ya'll
Blog 2: Fifth times a charm!
Blog 3: Back in the Saddle Again
Blog 4: Uno Mas!
Katie Sutton is a stud! She had a standout career in high school at Rolla and then in college at TCU. She won the two biggest races in Saint Louis back in 2007, the St. Patrick's Day Parade Run and the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon, and was working her way toward an Olympic Trials Qualifier in the Marathon before she had to take on a whole new challenge...breast cancer. Well, she kicked its butt and now she is back running again and looking to get back to her old times. Check out her blog...she is definitely the toughest of all of us!
11.04.09 (1.5 weeks out)
Ok, we really have a week and a half to go, but I don’t know how to say “one and a half more” in Spanish. In fact, I don’t know Spanish at all so I could be saying “your mother is a hamster” for all I know. But you get the point – the race is approaching quickly.
Last week I had a great 4 mile cut down workout to shake off the rust. I started at 6:50 pace and ended with a 6:15. The final half mile was a 3:05 and the last quarter was a 91. The workout went great and I am feeling ready for the half. Last week, I also did drills - TWICE! I was afraid they would leave me very sore, but I wasn’t any worse for the wear the next day. That was a huge improvement from 8 months ago when I tried to start a drill routine. After one session I was sore for days! To me, this indicates my body is getting stronger as a whole. Now don’t be fooled, I still hate them.
In the next few days I will talk with my trusted advisors (aka my coach and Ben) to see we are going to shoot for as a goal pace. I know it sounds lame (or el-lame-o in my version of Spanish), but I really just want to run better than I did in St. Louis this April. I had a horrible race and I want to replace its memory with a great run in San Antonio. Ok, so I want to beat some people too, but that is a given, right? I will also start mentally prepping for the race and getting my plan together for race weekend logistics. I am a planner by nature and having a plan keeps my nerves in check. After that, all I have to do is wait. That is the hardest part.
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Back in the Saddle Again:
10.24.09 (3 weeks out)
Back in the Saddle Again!
I am writing this while drinking coffee after a great 10 mile run on a beautiful fall day – life is normal again! After, two weeks of rest I am back at in the saddle again. For the first time in my marathon career, I took two weeks off from running after the race. I have been researching recovery methods and several of the professionals (Paula, Ryan, etc) have said that they don’t run for two weeks after a marathon, but use active recovery. If it is good enough for them, it is good enough for me. So instead of running, I drove to Utah, hiked 5-8 miles a day, then drove back. After running for the first time on Monday, I feared I had overdone the active and underdone the recovery! I think my issues earlier in the week were related to the 25 hours of driving. By Wednesday I felt better and this morning was awesome. Watch out San Antonio, here I come!
Now that I feel like I can start working again, here are three things I am going to institute between now and San Antonio:
1.
Drills – I swore I would NEVER do drills after I graduated from college. I am the most uncoordinated person you have ever met and I resemble a flailing bird when I do drills. If you need independent verification of this fact, you can contact anyone who ran track at TCU between the years of 1998 and 2002. However, I have come to realize that they are a necessary evil. In this training segment I am going to decrease my lower body weight work and do drills twice a week to help with my speed and strength.
2. Post Workout Nutrition – I don’t think I do the best job fueling myself after workouts. I am going to start experimenting and consulting with my nutritionist and figure out what I need to do to recover faster. As my mileage keeps increasing, so will the number of two a days. Gotta get the fuel in to maximize the my workouts!New Training Partner – I have a new training partner for my evening runs. She is four legged, furry, and won’t let me skip a run. Some of you Tuesday night track folks might remember her as the barking fur ball that wanted to herd you. Stay tuned to the blog to watch her training progress too.
3. That is it for now – happy running and GO HORNED FROGS!! Beat BYU!!!
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Fifth times a charm!:
10.09.09 (6 weeks out)
I guess it takes five tries to finally figure out how to run a marathon! I ran a 3:06 at the Milwaukee marathon and I am even more excited about that fact that I ran a complete race. No bonking! All I can say is that I am in a state of blissful soreness this morning.
I know that this is a San Antonio blog, so I don't want to talk too much about Milwaukee . However, after every race I run Ben asks “How did it play out?” Thus, I thought I would give a quick run down of the race. First of all, the folks at the race did a great job putting on the race. It was one of the most organized running events I have ever been a part of. Second, the weather was almost perfect at the start - 48 degrees with a light wind out of the west. The first half of the race was in the country side and made me feel like I was running back in Rolla. The name “Lakefront Marathon” is a bit of false advertising because you don't really see the lake until 23, but it was still a pretty run. The plan was to run the first half at 7:10 pace and then drop it down to 7:00 pace for the second half if I felt good. I stayed calm the first half and tired to stay as close to 7:10 pace as possible. This was hard to do because there were a lot of women in the race and had to fight the urge to chase them. To be honest, I was surprised to hear I was the 15th woman at 10 miles. Looking at past results, I anticipated being a bit higher up. I decided to just ignore my place and stick to the plan (note: this is a revolutionary concept for me!) I passed 13.1 in 1:33:15 and noticed the wind was picking up and shifting toward the south, which made it a stiff head wind. Around 20, two other women and I formed a pack and the fun began. (I don't know about you, but I make up names for people in races. I was not very creative this time and named one of the girls the “white shirt girl.” The other one, who was dressed in a solid black outfit, I dubbed “the ninja”. ) Around mile 21, white shirt girl, the ninja, and I were informed that we were 10th, 11th, and 12th and the race was on! We all wanted to be in the top 10. There was lots of drafting, tripping, and jockying for position through water stops. By 23 the ninja had dropped off and white shirt girl put a major move on me. I managed a 6:56 mile at 23, but I just didn't have the fitness to stay with her. Then the head wind hit and the rest of the race is sort of foggy. Turns out while I was toying with the white shirt girl and the ninja, I passed several other girls. I ended up in 6th place – woohoo! (My place got amended to 5th after a crazy DQ, but I consider myself 6th).
In summary – I ran a 3:06 marathon less that 18 months after cancer treatment – not too shabby! Now I am off for some R&R before I start to prep for San Antonio . I have two weeks of hiking ahead of me so check back soon in a few weeks for an update.
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Howdy Ya'll:
9.26.09 (7 weeks out)
I figured since we are running the race in San Antonio , I would give you the proper Texas greeting! Thanks for visiting my blog. I am afraid mine won't be as exciting as the other folks ( Texas lingo number 2….just in case you are counting), because I am only running the half in San Antonio . My big day is next Sunday when I am running the Milwaukee Lakeshore Marathon. That is right – only 7 days to go. This is my first marathon in almost 2 ½ years, so I am both nervous and excited. My training went well and I feel like I maximized my workouts over the last 10 weeks. Now I just have to survive the taper – my least favorite part about running a marathon!
I will try to write and let everyone know how it goes. After the marathon and some r & r I will fill you in on my preparations for San Antonio .
Happy Running!
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