Catching up but Still Laggin Behind
It has been a terrible two weeks for running. I missed my long run this week. My job and social life are interfering with my ability to get out there and get it done. I keep running, doing the shorter runs when I can. I am behind one long run. But it doesn’t look good for me to get it in this weekend as we have a family wedding. The long runs require quite a bit of physical and mental preparation. Plus, there is no way, in this heat that I can do them any other time but early am.
On the plus side, our good friend and sports-psychologist, Brandon has agreed to be my accountability coach. I was feeling very decimated earlier in the week but then I realized I had just put up a lot of mental barriers that were keeping me from seeing what I could do. Let me give an example: I think, “it is WAYYYYY to HOT to run.” So I keep myself from getting out there. But I can do short runs in the heat or I can go to the gym and run on the treadmill in the AC. I also don’t have to accept the heat as a barrier at all and I can just strap-on the CamelBak and hit it. Coincidentally, Runner’s World magazine has a whole article this month on how to beat the heat. Much of my mental talk had turned into excuses to not run.
Also, I think I am starting to get scared that maybe this is more of a challenge than I am capable of. Again, thoughts stopping me from even trying. So I am making a list of stuff that is going to HELP me complete this marathon-my motivators.
1) My daughter, Juliet. I want her to know her mom is tough and strong and able to do great and amazing things. Her very existence is a testament to my ability to do something hard and long and scary: pregnancy and childbirth.
2) Jeremy, my husband. Together, he and I have accomplished amazing things. We built a family, a life, a business, and worked together so that I can excel in my own profession too. I have watched him bust through the fear and anxiety that is a part of taking risk and I have watched him succeed, again and again. When I leave the house to run, he says, “bust it out, Baby.”
3) Being a Doctor. I just can’t quit. I have a reputation to uphold. Plus, I made it through 12 grueling years to become a doctor and then a board certified anesthesiologist. Plus, I had to learn how to spell “anesthesiologist.” Hell, if I did all that, I can run a marathon.
4) Lori, Shannon, Stephanie, Julie: These are four women that I am pleased to count among my friends. They have all run marathons. They are average women with all the stresses of motherhood and work and all that jazz. They inspire and challenge me to meet their bar of achievement. Brave and beautiful hearts every last one.
5) My Dad: a man of great suspicion, with an inquiring mind, and a genetic predisposition to avoiding risks. A man who values hard work and effort over flamboyance and talk. Seriously, I think Dad thinks I can’t do it. Yeah, he thought I would never get into or complete medical school. He is why I love Christina Aguilera’s song “Fighter.”
I AM A MARATHONER. I LOVE TO RUN. I RUN UNTIL I AM DONE!
I am starting to Dread Running
It is getting harder and harder to motivate myself. I keep thinking, “crap, I have to run today. That sucks.” The biggest challenge is the time. I can no longer hammer out a 3 mile run in 1/2 hour-I am doing 4,5 and 6 miles run now as my “short” runs during the week with a 2-3 hour “long” run on the weekend. That means I have to have a full hour or more devoted to running each time I run. I am having a hard time fitting that in. It is too long for me to get up early and do it before work which starts about 6 am for me as it is. Then it is too hot in the afternoon to go, then the evening it is starting to get too late. Yeah, I know, I sound like a whinner…blah, blah, wah, wah…
11 Mile Triumpth!
I did 11 miles today and I also reached a milestone of over 100 Miles total. The Nike plus gave me a sticker. I am very proud of it. Once they awarded it to me, they even suggested I use the link below to brag. This guys are marketing geniuses!
There is a reason why marathons start in the morning…it is HARD to run when it gets hot. I started about 7:30 this morning and finished about 9:30 and by that time, it was already 83 out. I have done some shorter runs this week that I could barely finish and even had to walk some of the miles since it was so hot. It is a real bummer.
My new BFF, Shannon from work, gave me some awesome apple cinnamon Carb Boom-they are like eating warm apple pie. Those really helped. Thanks Shannon!
Overall, I am hanging in there but it is getting hard as I get up to higher and higher mileage. Even my short runs during the week are no less than 4 miles. Ouch.
Bustin’ Out Ten Miles!
My training schedule called for a ten miler-my first ever. I was half dreading it but I started and would not quit until I was done. “I run until I am DONE!” I did stop for a potty break at three miles. I ran so long that I hear songs on the IPod I didn’t know I had.
I am hurting pretty good now. I need to stretch and pop some glucosamine and Aleve. (Side note about Aleve, AKA naproxen sodium, it really does work for 24 hours unlike Tylenol or ibuprofen. It inhibits the inflammatory pathway at the same point as those others but for a longer period of time. Thus it is my anti-inflammatory of choice)
I am some how surprised yet not surprised that I could do 10 miles. It just reinforces what The Book says that barriers are often in your mind and not necessarily your body.
“The dark barrier called fear may be high and imposing but it is often exceedingly thin.” I think Kant wrote that.
Another Nike Plus Challenger Squashed!
Rush challenged me to a 30 mile distance race-first one to 30 wins. Since I am up into the higher milage parts of my training program now, I pounded out thirty in about 2 weeks. I ran a mile beyond my planned run yesterday just so I would hit the 30 mark and complete the challenge. I only realized recently how powerful a motivator challenge is to me.
I did not grow up an athlete-or even a very active kid. I played on a few teams, softball, vollyball and ran track. But I was invariably the worst of the team. The only reason I was on the track team was because I volunteered to run the 2 mile. No one else wanted to run that event so they let me do it. Highschool track in my area was pretty non-competitive, but the few spectators that showed up would often jeer at me as I came in last. I remeber one time, before I had finished my last lap, they started to put up the hurdles for the next event. When I looked up, an old guy in the stands shouted at me, “I could ran faster than that!”
So I always sort of just assumed I couldn’t compete so I might as well just do my own thing and not worry about every body else. Then ShoeMoney and I started to compete against eachother. Our biathalon was a great motivator to me. I enjoyed beating him and even enjoyed it when I lost to him since it really made him happy and enthusiatic about exercising.
So now I am into this marathon thing. I love the NikePlus challenges-they really spur me onto to the next level. There are some challenges I will never win-Dillsmack will always run faster than me. But I am enjoying having him set a bar that I can strive for. Plus, it is no fun for my challengers if I don’t try. Then it is an empty victory.
Catching up on the Schedule
Dillsmack was here visiting so I had to at least TRY to beat his time for a two mile run (17 mins) so I ran two on the treadmill as I thought that would help me establish and keep a fast pace. I came in at just under 22 minutes. Not so impressive on speed. Then I did three yesterday and did six today. I can still haul ass on the distance.
I am really starting to enjoy those longer runs. I often say my mantra outlout-even shout it a few times. If there are bikers or other runners on the trail, I might get some wierd looks. I always have this wierd feeling at the start of a run-like as soon as I take that first stride, as soon as my foot hits the trail, I am commited to that run, that distance, and nothing is going to get in the way of me completing it. I am wierd like that-I am big into completion. If I leave stuff undone, it bothers me for YEARS. (I am still bothered by an extra-credit paper I promised the proffessor I would write and never did. Hello, 1992 called and said, “get over it already!”
I am on track for the week. I will do my last run of the week and the long one on Monday morning. Ten Miles. TEN MILES. Looming in front of me. I know I will just get out there and bust it out. By the end of next week, I will be caught up and back to doing the long run over the weekend.
I am on call this weekend so that is screwing me up as well. I have to be able to get to the hospital within 15-20 minutes so running for 1-2 hours is a challenge. I am taking my chances when I am out on the longer trails so I am having to stick around the house where I can jump in the car if I get called in.
CamelBak
I used the bad boy for the first time today on my 8 mile run. I liked the set up and fluid delivery. It held 62 oz of Gatorade easily and even kept it pretty cool as the fluid bag is somewhat insulated in the backpack case. I did like that it rode on my back and not at waist height-I got enough stuff giggling on my waist as it is. It has a chest strap and between that and the should straps (all can be easily tightened) it rode with NO bounce. That amazed me.
The mouthpiece is slick. The hose is held over your shoulder and then you can easily get the mouth piece in and suck in the fluid. The mouth piece flops around some so I just tucked it into my top. The piece doesn’t drip fluid and has a sweet system that keeps it closed and then opens when you clamp down on it and suck-very smooth. Oh yeah-no plastic taste either.
The problem became apparent when I got home-how do you clean this thing?! I emptied it and ran water through the bladder which is removable from the backpack. But unless you suck on the hose, fluid doesn’t flow through easily so I still have to work out how to clear the hose and mouth piece easily. I can see that this thing might not last very long just because it can get junked up without cleaning.
My BBF told me I could get cleaning tabs and some sort of hose cleaner. There is also a specialized hanger to dry it on-I might have to look for those on Amazon. In the mean time, I held it open with a baby bottle so it can air out. I will be using it for any run over 3 miles. It works well.
Crankin’ Out the 8 Mile, Long Run of the Week
I was in sorry shape last week. Every run seemed to take forever and was pure hell. I think in large part since I was not hydrating during the run. To compound that problem, I was running late in the afternoon or evening and suffering in the heat. My schedule with work and my daughter leaves little time to run which is why I was doing it later in the day.
I knew I had no chance of completing the 8 mile unless I did it in the early am. I had a free day on Tuesday and woke up at 5:30. I ususally get up then and just got the cloths on and went at it. I wore the Camelbak-which worked great! I hammered out the miles without any problem. I took a while-about an hour and a half but I did it with no stopping, not gasping, no major melt downs. I did a lot of mental distraction techniques to keep myself going.
I was actually one of the better runs I have had. Making progress everyday.
Behind On the Schedule
ShoeMoney and I spent the weekend in Vegas so I am behind on my running. Last week was hard. I intended to run the day we flew out-didn’t get up and do it. I did run Sunday, when we came back. I hammered out three miles. Not as tough but cerrtainly not smooth.
I have a mantra now. My training book reccomends a motivationla mantra that one is supposed to chat while running. Here is mine:
“I am a marathoner. I love to run. I run until I am done.”
I just repeat that a few hundred times and get through my miles. It does help. Although people look at me strange when I say it out loud. Saying it out loud seems to help. When I did my first five mile run, I ran past an old guy and told him, “I am running 5 miles today.” Like he cared but it was the outloud commitment that made me even more commited. So the mantra is working a bit.
My training book has a lot of mental techniques for runners. The authros say that at a certain point your body will give out and then your mind has to help you finish. Since I am pretty much planning on that happening, I thought I better take it up a notch on the mental exercises.
5 Miles of Hell
I don’t know why, but this week I can’t seem to run even a short one. I feel like crap. I did 5 today. I ran 2.5, walked a bit, finished the three and then took about 1/2 hour break and then was mad I hadn’t ran the goal of my training schedule and so did the last two. It was hot here-95 degrees. Ouch. I am sure the heat plays into my fatigue. I stay hydrated-drinking before and after the run. I think these runs are going to get worse and worse as it gets warmer and the summer hits full-force.