Swim workout suggestion

Just a quick post today sharing the swim workout I did this morning. Full disclosure: The way I train makes no sense (more on this later), but it works for me, and occasionally, I stumble opon what seems like a good workout. I did what was a long workout for me to make up for a total lack of activity yesterday. You can adjust the total workout length by messing around with how many repeats you do in the main set.

1,650-yard warmup

1 x 100 butterfly
1 x 400 freestyle
repeat five times ... or however many times works for you

350 cooldown

4,500 total, unless my math is worse than I ever imagined.

Misadventures on Rock Creek Trail

Here is a thing about me: I am lost more often than not.

The phrase "couldn’t find her way out of a paper bag" could have been invented for me. Except the paper bag is unnecessary: A good pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey spin, and I have completely lost my bearings.

This became important yesterday, on what I never intended to be a long run.

I was trying out a route around the Mormon Temple in Kensington suggested by Montgomery County Road Runners Club Coach Mike Broderick. Check out an extended version of the run here. The portion of the route I did starts at Meadowbrook Stables in Rock Creek Regional Park, follows Rock Creek Trail for about two miles, then spits runners out at the intersection of Beach Drive and Stoneybrook Drive, where Stoneybrook Drive provides a killer hill workout before taking runners back to the stables on Rock Creek Trail.

This runner decided to go the other way on Rock Creek Trail instead.

Let me be clear here: This was in no way a confusing route. There are only two ways to go on the trail after the hill loop, and while the trail is not clearly marked, it IS pretty obvious that you go back the way you came. I should have known: I had to forge a washed-out section of the trail with a makeshift bridge of two long sticks, which I definitely did not have to do on the way out. But as previously discussed, I have good reason not to trust my directional instincts.

Plus, I kept recognizing things. I’d rejoice when I passed “my” meadow, “my” playground, “my” bridge. Problem is, Rock Creek Trail kind of looks alike in both directions. Until you get up to Rockville Pike, that is (those of you in the Washington area can confirm that this is really, really far from Meadowbrook Stables in Chevy Chase).

When I finally saw another human walking on the trail, I stopped her and her miniature Schnauzer.Panting and desperate, I asked her if I was heading the right way to get back to the Meadowbrook Stables. She surveyed the sweaty-mud spattered runner in front of her.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, wincing. “You’re really, really far away.”

I whimpered to myself as I turned around, knowing I had added at least three or four miles to my run at a time when I am trying hard not to overtrain. I tried yoga-like deep-breathing and mantras, which are helpful when you are calm already, but not so helpful in times of crisis.

And this was a crisis. So I turned to old-school gangster rap. Biggie, Public Enemy and Dr. Dre carried me back home. And my iPod, which had been running on reserve battery power since mile 2, miraculously kept on going.

I got back to Meadowbrook Stables an hour and 40 minutes after I left – at least 10 miles, by my estimate. This was my longest since before I injured my hip. It also happens to be the longest run on my beginner half-marathon training schedule, so I guess it's nice to know I'm ahead of the training game.

And the route really is awesome. Rock Creek Trail winds through playgrounds, meadows and dense thickets of mature trees, providing great views of the creek along the way. Even the starting point is pretty — when I got back to the quaint, lovely stables, with the horses milling about and neighing, it almost made me forget how much of an, ahem, donkey I felt like.

Need motivation for a tough workout? Try the gangsta-rap playlist that fueled my extended run:
Til I Collapse - Eminem
Scenario - Tribe Called Quest
M-E-T-H-O-D Man - Wu Tang Clan
You Can Do it - Ice Cube
Sure Shot - Beastie Boys
The Watcher - Dr. Dre
What’s the Difference - Dr. Dre
Fight the Power - Public Enemy
Fugeela - The Fugees
Kick in the Door - The Notorious B.I.G.

Putting it out there

Motivation has many sources, and everyone finds it in different places.

As far as I can tell, the thing that drives me is shame.

This is the story of my training for the National Half Marathon on March 21 in Washington, my new home city. I have run one full marathon and two half marathons previously. One half ended with a stupid hip injury that continues to trip me up more than a year later and a stupid time I would rather forget. The other half ended with jubilation, mostly thanks to -- you guessed it. Shame.

It was the Five Points of Life Half Marathon in Gainesville, Fla., in 2007, and it was my first distance race. My friends Jessica and Adam promised to come cheer me on, and warned that they would appear on the race course when I least expected it. During every rough patch, I thought of how horrified I would be if I was limping, clutching my cramped-up sides and groaning when I finally came upon them. So I pushed on, running longer and harder than I ever had before.

Turns out, Jessica and Adam had run out of gas on the way to the race, so they never made it to the course. But my fear of embarrassment helped me I post a time I never thought I could as a solid middle-of-the-pack runner, Jessica and Adam took me to a fabulous post-race brunch, and I discovered a powerful motivator.

It is in that spirit of motivational shame that I share my plans to run this race. I figure the more people I tell, the more embarrassing it will be if I get lazy and drop out.

My plan is to follow a combination of a Hal Higdon half-marathon plan, and a neato three-day training plan I read about recently in Runner’s World. I’m going for the less-is-more approach to avoid more of the aforementioned stupid injuries, and will be supplementing my running schedule with swimming days. Keeping me motivated to swim is the 1-mile Bay Bridge Challenge, an open-water swim in the Chesapeake Bay in June I recently plunked down 60 bucks to sign up for (another great motivator: the threat of financial loss).

Check back here a few times a week for workouts, running routes, playlists, training advice, injury-prevention tools and other cool stuff I find helpful while training. I may even post some non-shame-related motivational material while I'm at it.

I’m putting it out there. Now, I guess I actually have to do it.