Miles Run Today: 0. Miles run this week: 0.
Days until Burlington: 218
Yesterday was probably one of the hardest days I've had since my triathlon training schedule. My legs were like jelly the rest of the day, and they were like concrete when I woke up this morning.
And then I ate. And I ate and I ate and I ate. I even went out of my way to get a Greek yogurt because it has like 3 times the protein of a regular yogurt (but unfortunately has the consistency of grade school paste).
I hate rest days. Mostly because all I do is plow through whatever sort of food is in my way, and then do nothing to burn it off. My inner control freak starts it's calorie count hand-wringing on rest days. The obsessive, addicted little guy tries to tell me that I don't need a rest day...or strength training can be considered a rest day...or...how are you going to eat all that butternut squash? It's a rest day.
I've been able to breathe calmly through these this year, because between all my cross training, all those calories (and pounds) seem to fall off of me anyway (for the first time in 29 years - I can actually say weight is "falling off of me").
Everything I read says rest is important - if not more important - than logging miles. (Sometimes I take that more to heart than necessary. I think at some point, my rest days were flirting with "couch potato mode".) The sensible side of me knows that without a day or two off a week, I get cranky. I get fed up with continuous training. I don't even want to run 1 mile, let alone 10. So I am resting. And I am eating. And I am trying to make sure I walk that fine line between "not enough" and "too much". Because "it's better to be underdone than over cooked" (which I pulled from a Runner's World blog post I can't seem to find anywhere).
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The Wall and the Drugs
Miles Run Today: 7.0 Miles for the week: 16
Days until Burlington: 219
Today's run was the furthest I've run in 2011. When I made my resolution to not run a race over 7 miles, all my training came down with it (which was the point). Even when my training program for the BAA 10K called for 7 or 8 milers...I mustered maybe a 6 miler.
These 7 miles have been looming on my training calendar for a while (I was originally slated to do 9 - I'm no where close to that right now). I've come to realize that everything over 6 miles is a mental block for me. Because it seems so much more...serious....somehow.
A six-miler is something I can bang out in about an hour. While 7 miles is only about 10ish minutes more, it's almost like the gateway drug to long, slow, distance runs. Because after 7 comes 8. And after 8 miles, 10 miles is just a inevitable formality at that point. Ten miles means you are a DISTANCE RUNNER, at least in my mind (especially since it's just under 2 hours of running for me). So, I've been sputtering at 6. Once I get over 6, my run at Burlington (no pun intended) is real. Then I am really in a build stage for a training stage.
There are still seeds of doubt scattered throughout me when I think about marathoning again. Will I burn out and have another lackluster time? Will this time finally be the time my IT band gives out, and sidelines me for a couple months? Will I puss out when it starts to snow? The conquering of the 7 miler for me is the first strep towards manning up and taking on my fears and this 26.2 head on.
To help, I tried my first spin class this morning. Forty-five minutes later, I'm hooked. I felt like I was triathlon training again (in a good way - without the swimming). It's going to be a great addition to my training - because it puts me in "the zone". Every now and then when I'm exercising, while I look like I've just gotten out of the shower because I'm soaked with sweat, and my muscles are burning just enough so I know I'm real, I go into my zen-like state and feel like I could like...flip over a car or something. It only comes out in runs for me now when I'm racing (or realize I'm killing my pace). But this morning, probably 2 or 3 times, I reached that euphoria.
I felt ready to climb the wall of the 7 miler.
Luckily, it's also 60 degrees in Boston today. In late November. This is unheard of. I just hope it doesn't mean I'm doing my peak run in May in the snow.
Running is my drug.
Days until Burlington: 219
Today's run was the furthest I've run in 2011. When I made my resolution to not run a race over 7 miles, all my training came down with it (which was the point). Even when my training program for the BAA 10K called for 7 or 8 milers...I mustered maybe a 6 miler.
These 7 miles have been looming on my training calendar for a while (I was originally slated to do 9 - I'm no where close to that right now). I've come to realize that everything over 6 miles is a mental block for me. Because it seems so much more...serious....somehow.
A six-miler is something I can bang out in about an hour. While 7 miles is only about 10ish minutes more, it's almost like the gateway drug to long, slow, distance runs. Because after 7 comes 8. And after 8 miles, 10 miles is just a inevitable formality at that point. Ten miles means you are a DISTANCE RUNNER, at least in my mind (especially since it's just under 2 hours of running for me). So, I've been sputtering at 6. Once I get over 6, my run at Burlington (no pun intended) is real. Then I am really in a build stage for a training stage.
There are still seeds of doubt scattered throughout me when I think about marathoning again. Will I burn out and have another lackluster time? Will this time finally be the time my IT band gives out, and sidelines me for a couple months? Will I puss out when it starts to snow? The conquering of the 7 miler for me is the first strep towards manning up and taking on my fears and this 26.2 head on.
To help, I tried my first spin class this morning. Forty-five minutes later, I'm hooked. I felt like I was triathlon training again (in a good way - without the swimming). It's going to be a great addition to my training - because it puts me in "the zone". Every now and then when I'm exercising, while I look like I've just gotten out of the shower because I'm soaked with sweat, and my muscles are burning just enough so I know I'm real, I go into my zen-like state and feel like I could like...flip over a car or something. It only comes out in runs for me now when I'm racing (or realize I'm killing my pace). But this morning, probably 2 or 3 times, I reached that euphoria.
I felt ready to climb the wall of the 7 miler.
Luckily, it's also 60 degrees in Boston today. In late November. This is unheard of. I just hope it doesn't mean I'm doing my peak run in May in the snow.
Running is my drug.
Monday, November 14, 2011
MapMyR...Whoa. Really?
Miles Run Today: 4.0 Miles for the week: 6.0
Days Until Burlington: 225
So I downloaded MapMyRun for my iPhone - more because I'm tired of having to come home and track how far I went or eyeballing it on the USATF site. Since I'm going to start really climbing in mileage - the last thing I want to do is run more (or less) than I'm supposed to (more concerned about the running more than I have to).
Yesterday I went for a easy two miler...and I was really surprised:
(a) Have I really been underestimating my mileage this much? I'm like 4 blocks away from where I usually hit a mile.
(b) Am I really running this fast? No way. No WAY. This is like...20 seconds off my race pace. Really? Really.
I'm not one to fight good news - but it just seems a little....too good. But, it's on Google. so it must be true, right?
I also have to recalibrate my training schedule - which is pretty typical for me. This time, I'm trying to have 20+ mile weeks before I actually start my race training (since there's no "Couch to 20 miles a week plan...shocker). I kind of dipped towards the end of September and early October, because I knew I weeks of maintaining 25 miles a week (which is what I start Burlington training). Welp, I just looked at it...to ramp up safely (10% increase for 3 weeks, reduced mileage for a week), I will get up to 23 miles a week, drop to 18 for recovery, and roll right into training. Not super what I wanted to do, but it's yet another hash mark in the "laziness will make you pay" column. I really hate that column.
Annnnnd I'm looking into spin classes for cross training. Right now I just sit on the stationary bike outside the spin studio, and stare creepily while their in class, trying to determine if this would be way out of my league/how hardcore people are. Current questions that are looming:
(a) Will I look like a humongous tool if I wear cycling shorts with the padding in the butt?
(b) Will I look like a humongous tool if I wear sneakers instead of the clippy shoes?
(c) How much will this really shred my legs?
But tonight's run was perfect. It was 61 degrees, so I was running in short sleeve (in November!). There was no wind, so the river was like glass. Harvard reflected perfectly in the water. It was pretty rad (and 1 reason why I run). Best part: I've really been running 4 miles this whole time, not 3.8 like I originally thought.
Days Until Burlington: 225
So I downloaded MapMyRun for my iPhone - more because I'm tired of having to come home and track how far I went or eyeballing it on the USATF site. Since I'm going to start really climbing in mileage - the last thing I want to do is run more (or less) than I'm supposed to (more concerned about the running more than I have to).
Yesterday I went for a easy two miler...and I was really surprised:
(a) Have I really been underestimating my mileage this much? I'm like 4 blocks away from where I usually hit a mile.
(b) Am I really running this fast? No way. No WAY. This is like...20 seconds off my race pace. Really? Really.
I'm not one to fight good news - but it just seems a little....too good. But, it's on Google. so it must be true, right?
I also have to recalibrate my training schedule - which is pretty typical for me. This time, I'm trying to have 20+ mile weeks before I actually start my race training (since there's no "Couch to 20 miles a week plan...shocker). I kind of dipped towards the end of September and early October, because I knew I weeks of maintaining 25 miles a week (which is what I start Burlington training). Welp, I just looked at it...to ramp up safely (10% increase for 3 weeks, reduced mileage for a week), I will get up to 23 miles a week, drop to 18 for recovery, and roll right into training. Not super what I wanted to do, but it's yet another hash mark in the "laziness will make you pay" column. I really hate that column.
Annnnnd I'm looking into spin classes for cross training. Right now I just sit on the stationary bike outside the spin studio, and stare creepily while their in class, trying to determine if this would be way out of my league/how hardcore people are. Current questions that are looming:
(a) Will I look like a humongous tool if I wear cycling shorts with the padding in the butt?
(b) Will I look like a humongous tool if I wear sneakers instead of the clippy shoes?
(c) How much will this really shred my legs?
But tonight's run was perfect. It was 61 degrees, so I was running in short sleeve (in November!). There was no wind, so the river was like glass. Harvard reflected perfectly in the water. It was pretty rad (and 1 reason why I run). Best part: I've really been running 4 miles this whole time, not 3.8 like I originally thought.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Four and Five in Twenty Twelve
Miles run this evening 3.8
Days until Burlington: 230
Registration for the Burlington City Marathon in Vermont opened up on November 1st. The reminder was sitting on my calendar taunting me a little bit while I waited for pay day. Should I really sign up? Am I really going to train this time? Am I really trying to PR on a mountain course?
After I floundered (almost literally) in Chicago in 2010, I took this year off of marathoning. My pride was hurt, and with it went my confidence, my desire and my reasons to run. Every race, I watch people pass me by as I plod along, and I wonder why I choose something I'm not very good at to be my passion. I always hate the "But you finished! That's incredible!" comments that come after my "I had the most horrible time ever. I didn't even train." statement that has become my CM10 soundbite.
So for 2011, I haven't run anything over 7 miles yet - not even in training. I focused on getting faster. I focused on shorter distances. I did a triathlon to get some cross training. And I really, really, really thought about why I run (one reason: I really, really, really hate swimming). Because the why fuels the when and the how often, which would ultimately feed into the how good I get.
The lynch pin race for me was the BAA 10K. If I didn't break an hour, after all the track workouts, training runs and lifting, I doubt I would have continued running. I just would have been too broken (why do I suck at marathons? Will there ever be enough training to run a 59:59 10K? Maybe I should take up competitive zumba) to run. Luckily, I ran it in 58:36 (thanks to help from my running buddy and a good cheering section), so here I am, staring down 2012.
Back in 2009, while I was in the middle of running the Boston Marathon, I decided I wanted to run 5 marathons before I turned 30. Back in 2009, 30 seemed like...at least 4000 years away. Now it means I have to run 2 marathons before October 25, 2012. Oof.
So like I said, here I am. Signed up for marathon #4, on a mountain course, trying to break 5 hours (which would be 1:19:50 over my last time, but a 19:07 improvement over my PR). I
Days until Burlington: 230
Registration for the Burlington City Marathon in Vermont opened up on November 1st. The reminder was sitting on my calendar taunting me a little bit while I waited for pay day. Should I really sign up? Am I really going to train this time? Am I really trying to PR on a mountain course?
After I floundered (almost literally) in Chicago in 2010, I took this year off of marathoning. My pride was hurt, and with it went my confidence, my desire and my reasons to run. Every race, I watch people pass me by as I plod along, and I wonder why I choose something I'm not very good at to be my passion. I always hate the "But you finished! That's incredible!" comments that come after my "I had the most horrible time ever. I didn't even train." statement that has become my CM10 soundbite.
So for 2011, I haven't run anything over 7 miles yet - not even in training. I focused on getting faster. I focused on shorter distances. I did a triathlon to get some cross training. And I really, really, really thought about why I run (one reason: I really, really, really hate swimming). Because the why fuels the when and the how often, which would ultimately feed into the how good I get.
The lynch pin race for me was the BAA 10K. If I didn't break an hour, after all the track workouts, training runs and lifting, I doubt I would have continued running. I just would have been too broken (why do I suck at marathons? Will there ever be enough training to run a 59:59 10K? Maybe I should take up competitive zumba) to run. Luckily, I ran it in 58:36 (thanks to help from my running buddy and a good cheering section), so here I am, staring down 2012.
Back in 2009, while I was in the middle of running the Boston Marathon, I decided I wanted to run 5 marathons before I turned 30. Back in 2009, 30 seemed like...at least 4000 years away. Now it means I have to run 2 marathons before October 25, 2012. Oof.
So like I said, here I am. Signed up for marathon #4, on a mountain course, trying to break 5 hours (which would be 1:19:50 over my last time, but a 19:07 improvement over my PR). I
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