787 First Delivery to ANA and My Farewell to the 787 Program

A short homage to the 787 first delivery to All Nippon Airways, ANA, and my farewell to the 787 Program, after six years in Fuselage Engineering. I am sad and happy. I am moving on to a military airplane program, The Tanker for the U.S. Air Force.

The lyrics of the song are not mere coincidence.

Half Of The Fury

I threatened last week to come back with fury because it promised to be a fantastic week. Six fun runs nicely planned. But one thing is what the mule thinks and another what the rider does (A Spanish saying BTW).

I very seldom get sick. And when one of the small signs of cold shows up (e.g. sore throat, itchy ear) I do everything under the sun to avoid that the cold develops further. Reason being, cold combined with my chronic asthma are synonym of high probabilities of complications, including pneumonia. Zicam is immediately introduced to my system to stop the cold development. It always works, and in 2-3 days the enemy is gone without having caused any disruption.  But last Monday either I didn’t recognize (never ignored) any indication of getting sick or I didn’t have any. On Tuesday I had more than cold symptoms. I definitely got a cold. My loyal Z came to me but the cold has advanced more than I wanted. As I had too much work and I am taking vacations next week, I couldn’t afford to call in sick. I sneezed all day, my eyes were watery and I felt really bad. However, chest was not affected, so I was still planning on going to my favorite workout, Tuesday’s speed work at the track, 12 x 400.

When I got home, hubby had me a nice bowl of chicken soup and told me: you should stay home. I recognized some wisdom on those words, and decided to stay and take a nap, but after the nap, to go to a closer track as I would miss my coach’s workout time.  Then I started shivering, but still thought: after the nap, and the fever gone, I can run my intervals on my treadmill. Later, knowing that I was not going to be the Hero of the Week, I took a Theraflu  PM, went to bed, and not precisely for a nap. At 7pm I was knocked down and slept like a rock.

On Wed I felt still sick but needed to be present at work for a couple of important meetings. As the day passed-by, and the magic Z, aspirins, and tons of water made its way through my system, I started to feel not only better but also able to run a planned summer 5K. When I got home, hubby repeated the same words he said the day before: you should stay home. Nah… I feel better. As I got ready I didn’t let my brain to provide an opinion, because it would say: no way. My son was going to join me there, and he also asked: Are you going to run being sick? In a total dictatorial matter, brain, hubby and son’s opinions were not heard. I went to run the race, but once there, I knew it was going to be hard. I didn’t have any chest difficulty, but because of all the sinus congestion, my breathing was not easy. Ah, and this is nothing but a 5K, by definition, a fast race. If I were somehow smart (I still think I am), I would at least jog it to avoid compromising my respiratory system, but me? A 5K? My brain can’t process that. So, there I go, after sharing some time with son, and a 10-min warm up. I forgot my heart rate, so I went by perceived effort, which was simply extreme effort. I hyperventilated during the whole run because, of course, it’s a 5K and I only know how to run it at max, but because I was breathing more deeply I was for sure running over my VO2 Max… But it paid: I PRd. 26:19 for an 8:29 pace. Nevertheless, the prize came back to haunt me when during the night, I got worse. At 4 am I had fever and in this cold Summer in Seattle I had to turn my electric blanket on. I knew I could not even go to the office so I would work from home. The Adventure Run with my friend Marie on Thursday night had to be cancelled.

Thursday went by very similar to Tuesday; hence I was at square zero: sneezing all the time, watery eyes, fever… Dumb girl (but I got a PR)… Though I was planning to go back to my routine on Friday, I couldn’t. I had a headache for most of the night, and the best for me was to cancel everything, from work to my Friday 5K in Redmond. Also I considered bailing on my two 10Ks on the weekend, but the decision would be made on Saturday morning, depending on how my Friday night went, and... it went well, so Snoqualmie was on.

Snoqualmie Railroad Days 10K is my favorite 10K of the region for the very reason that is the Pacific Northwest Track & Field  (PNTF) 10K championships and gathers the fastest runners of the PNW. So, it’s very fun to watch the competition that close, and as the course is out and back it’s possible to see the neck-to-neck race. Lots of orange shirts are present: Club Northwest with the monopoly of all these runners.

I felt without much energy as I had not eaten well during the week, had been taken a lot of medicines and in three words, I was sick, but I was definitely in recoup mode, so wanted to test what the body could do. I set up my watch in HR mode, as I don’t run by pace any more but by effort. I have found out that this is a very appealing way to run because I can tell why my body is behaving in one way or another. Also, all my runs done this way are organized and efficient. I set up my standard 10K rates: 85% for the first two miles, 90% for 3 & 4, 95% for mile 5, and 98% for last mile.

So how did my body adapt to run at these efforts after a week being sick? Slowing the pace. And this is the beauty of heart rate strategy. If I would’ve gone by pace, I would’ve hyperventilated as I did on Wed, and being a longer race I would’ve crashed very soon because my body would’ve needed higher efforts to maintain my 10K pace. But, to keep the HR for a 10K, the body just slowed down to the point that I ran closer to my half marathon pace than to my 10K’s. Still, it was such good run because my body systematically adapted to increasing the effort to the point that my last mile was the fastest with 98% effort (178 BPM). The last 0.2 were done at 99%, however the paces were not even close to my 10K pace; they were 30 sec per mile slower. I finished in 58:56 and got 4th in the division (and there were trophies in this championship, of course, 3 deep... darn!!!)

Though I pretty much know how to race every distance I continue learning about my body, pace, heart rate, effort, running. And this learning is wonderful for being a better runner. After this experience, I decided not to run Lake Union on Sunday. Not because I ran slower, but because the body told me, “hey, I am recovering from a cold. I need probably a couple of additional days to fully recover”. So, I heard the running machine, which was not broken but getting amended, and Sunday was a placid day to sleep IN, and to take now care of hubby, who is, guess what: SICK! Contagious? Ya think?  

In summary, six planned runs, only 3 were done. 4 planned races, only 2 were done. I came back this week only with Half Of The Fury. 

Snoqualmie Railroad Days

Snoqualmie Railroad Days

Sizzler 5K, Auburn

I Will Come Back Next Week With Fury

Four weeks until my next marathon and the plan called for a 20-miler (32K) long run. As I always mix my long runs with races, I looked for opportunities to run a Half and then run 7 additional miles, or register in a marathon, and bail at mile 20. However, the only long races in the area for the weekend were a 12 continuous hours run around one loop of 1.5 miles; and a Half Marathon Trail Run. For the former, I thought I could join the runners and run my 20 needed miles, but 13 laps looked already mentally challenging (the lake loop in front of my house is 1.6 miles and I can’t do more than 2). And for the latter, I just don’t do trails. Too loose ankles, recipe for disaster.

Being definitely on my own, I designed a nice plan that could allow me to run on Saturday a 5K race with a 2-mile warm up and then 15 miles in Burke-Gilman. The plan was perfect until Friday night came along, with its social tricks, and wine; too much wine. With a night short of sleep I made the wise decision at 5am of not running the 5K. Snoozed, dozed, 8:00 a cup of coffee. Everything was moving slow. At 10, I had a brilliant idea: to run 14 miles in the neighborhood, drive to Olympia for a 10K at 6:30pm (Pasta Dash) and then go to my Coach’s Summer Party. When I started calculating the timing, and got to the “driving 80 miles for 1 hr 20 min to Olympia”, the brilliant idea looked nothing but stupid. Hubby was just cracked up that at midday I still was in bed trying to come up with something. He insisted “Sweetie, that’s OK”. At 11, the plan was completely disregarded: "Lizzie, it seems you will not run today a race, let alone a 20-miler". With a “who cares” attitude, I wandered around the house for the rest of the day doing nothing until it was time to get ready for the Summer Party.  There, when everybody was asking everybody: how far did you go today? the who-cares attitude became a guilty one. 

But there’s always tomorrow. There’s always redemption.

Sunday came and I got up as slow as I always do. Coffee, snooze, more coffee, more snooze, oatmeal in bed, snooze. At 9, I was still tossing and turning, boy if I am lazy. Hubby stopped from time to time, and smiled. At 10, I was out the door.

To have a new 20-miler experience I decided to change course and run where I have never done it before: East Sammamish River Trail. The temp was high 50’s with a forecast of mid 60’s by the end of my run. The first 5 miles were just bliss. There were enough people to feel company, but it was not crowded: bikers, runners, walkers, even skaters. The trail is remarkably beautiful with lines of stunning poplars facing the quiet and smooth river. Though it was warm, it was partially overcast and there was a very nice breeze. I felt in heaven. As I was doing an LSD the heat was not pressing much, but in the second quarter of the race I started to feel hot. At mile 10, when I turned around, I had to take my shirt off. I felt liberated and the run became easier. Thanks God for fine-looking running bras. 

Things looked different while running in opposite direction, but the beauty was the same. At mile 13 I stopped along the trail to refill my water bottles from a water fountain, and in the bathroom I practically submerged myself underneath the faucet. The water was cold and delicious. I felt in very good shape. I was comparing with other 20-milers I’ve done and today I didn’t have the mental pain that others have caused on me. Today was definitely different. Everything was so magnificent, so positive, so striking. Around mile 17 I saw again a pair of running shoes left on a bench that were there when I started my run. From the distance, they looked like very muddy shoes. Interestingly, they were bronzed shoes bolted into the bench. I learned later they were placed there in honor of Liz Duncan, runner and employee of Brooks, who was killed by a car while running. Her favorite spot to run was the Sammamish River Trail. When you learn things like this as part of your run, everything changes. Everything gets a different meaning. 

Bronzed running shoes in honor of Liz Duncan. Photo from http://kingcountyparks.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/on-the-trail-sammamish-river-trail/

The Sammamish Trail ended and the last stretch was done in Burke Gilman. I picked up the pace and ended my run very strong. Called hubby: Please fill the tub with COLD water. I’ll be there in 15. 

This was one of my best 20-milers, and though I have no remorse for not racing this weekend, just wait and see. I Will Come Back Next Week With Fury. 

Coach Chuck's Summer Party. A fantastic gathering with nice company and awesome food. THANKS Chuck

A Summer Night in Western Washington. !!! Yes, bonfire!!!