Blessings in Disguise

I am so incredibly proud of the things I’ve accomplished this year.  I wish I didn’t have the lingering feeling of failure.  I hate feeling it, but buried beneath the half marathon PR and medals, there it is.  It makes its way out every once and awhile, when I least expect it.  That stupid marathon that should have been… It used to eat at me continually.  I would search races around the country within reach to still attempt to train and sign up for.  I considered running 26.2 miles around town just do say I freakin’ did it.  I’ve realized now how completely ridiculous that would be, and how to just straight up GET OVER what didn’t happen this year, reflect on what DID, and look forward to the year ahead.

So, this morning at 5am and 30 degrees, mid run, I finally compiled a list of POSITIVE things that came out of my training experience, and reasons why I’m thankful for the “failure”.

•        MOST IMPORTANTLY by NOT running the marathon, I HEALED and didn’t do serious, long-term injury to my hip.
•        I conquered my fear of long runs.  I gained so much confidence by doing those long runs.  I was pretty darn nervous the night before my first 20 miler.  Knowing that I’ve see that 2 as the front digit on my watch definitely gives me confidence as I start my 2014 training cycle.  It’s nothing to be feared.
•       I got what I really wanted.  I really, really wanted a 1:45 half marathon in 2013.  I was hoping to get it in June before I started marathon training.  I didn’t get it, but by not running the marathon, I was able to pick up the Omaha half and get my 1:44.
•      I gained speed and strength.  I felt pretty weak going into the Sioux Falls half, I had taken time off, and was doing no major strength training in my healing efforts.  I was SO SORE for a solid week after this race, but it was like my muscles rebuilding and gearing up for bigger and better.  I’m really proud of the paces I ran my recent 15K and 10K in.
•     I have more mental strength and determination than ever before.  Last year, I would never in a billion years dream of running at 4am or running when it was 29 degrees out.  This morning, I got out of my warm bed and ventured out with no real goal other than 7 miles.  No reason to HAVE to.  Nothing to train for.  I’ve learned how to take the pressure off of myself.  That is HUGE. 

    This morning I came to accept what didn’t happen this year, and embrace the positive things that did.  I reflect back on the whole Sioux Falls weekend in general, the circumstances surrounding the weekend, the heat… it wasn’t supposed to happen.  It just wasn’t my time.  But, I was supposed to try.  I was supposed to register, train, and focus on a marathon.  Every situation brings something to our lives, be it a lesson, a success, a failure, a blessing… The standard “everything happens for a reason” quote really does always ring true.

 Something random from me for the day... my new coffee flavor is Dunkin' Donuts Apple Pie.  PLEASE TRY THIS!  It's sooooo good!  I go on coffee hiatuses over the summer months, and when I come back, I come back strong!

 

The 4 AM Club – Tips for early morning running

I used to have a limit, or rule if you will, about the absolute earliest I would ever run.  The earliest I would ever allow an alarm was 4:47AM.  I broke the rule, and it wasn’t even that hard.  Thank the time change.  3:55 AM, my eye balls popped open BEFORE my 4:00 AM alarm.  Like I said, if not for the time change, this would not have happened.  But my bed times had been skirting around the 8:30 range the last two nights.  So this was just sort of my body going by it’s normal clock.

To make a long story short, I had a time crunch, I needed to be in the car with my co-worker by 6:15 to head out for a work conference.  I wanted to run 6 miles.  SO, I started at 4:10 AM.  And it didn’t suck.

Tips for morning running and getting your tail out of bed:

-          - PLAN!!!! You must plan ahead.  Set a goal, an alarm, and all of your gear out the night before so it’s right there, and takes little time for you to gather.

-          - Go to bed early.  This goes with the planning aspect.  If you know you are running early, or earlier than you normally would, make sure to plan ahead and get to bed in time.  Cut caffeine off early in the day and start winding down so you can fall asleep.  This is really easy for me, I always seem to be tanked and ready for bed.  I’m also a good sleeper (if this exists)  I very rarely have issues falling or staying asleep, and I don’t have kids to wake me up!

-          - Go to bed visualizing your run.  This might sound crazy, but it works for me!  I visualize the workout, the route, or my plan for the morning.  Am I doing a tempo? Steady state? How many miles?  This helps and it also is a good motivator.

-          - Have your fuel ready.  I don’t eat anything, but I do drink something.  I have my Spark in my shaker bottle, and my 3 Catalyst on the counter waiting for me.  I take them immediately, that way by the time I get dressed, they have kicked in and give me the boost I need.

-          - Remind yourself WHY you are doing this.  For me, it’s usually “you get to come home after work and watch General Hospital” or “this beats going to the crowded Y.”  Or in yesterday’s case, it was really the only time I could do it.  I knew I’d be camped on my butt all day long in the car and in training, and wouldn’t have the energy to do a dang thing when we got home (this was the case) so I was extra motivated, and extra glad I did it!

Don’t expect to become a morning runner overnight.  It takes some getting used to.  I started last summer, and only did it when it was horribly hot out.  By September, I was back to running after work in the evenings or not at all.  (I kind of fell off the wagon after race season)  It’s not always easy, and can wear you down if you don’t take the rest when you need it.  I make sure to sleep in on my cross training days and do it after work or on my lunch break.  Having those “sleep in” days help me get through the week, and help me wake up more motivated the next early day.  It’s routine for me now, and second nature, but it took time to get there.  It’s like training for a race, you have to train your body to be able to respond and get going early.

THIS ISN’T FOR EVERYONE!  I so get that.  I can’t imagine the thought of evening running, like after 7pm.  Some people always run in the evenings.  Some people just aren’t morning people.  Some people think I’m bat sh*t crazy.  Everyone is different.  If I didn’t have to work 8-5, I would not run at 5AM.  My personal favorite time is that 7AM range.

Random tidbits from yesterday:

-         - FOUR.  The time I ran, and the number of cups of coffee I had.  One latte from Scooters and three cups of good ol’ black coffee during training.  I love coffee, but I typically don’t drink any during the week.  One day a week tops.  So this was a lot, and the top of my head was tingling.

-         - Mahoney State Park is just gorgeous.  If you can make it there during the fall, DO IT!  Wow.  I wished we could have been outside walking the trails or biking instead of inside.

-         - I hate to drive.

-         - Don’t trust the “fuel range” mile indicator on your car.  I was a block away from the gas station, and was 95% sure I was going to have to get out and push it there… oops.

-         - I really hate being in the car.

Every mile a memory...

This week I hit 1,000 miles for 2013.  I started running here and there in the summer of 2011 and  2012 was my first year of actually deciding I liked it.  My 2012 mile total was 546.

So, with a new year, I’ve almost doubled last year’s total, and ran a few more races.  Within those additional few hundred miles, I’ve learned many a lesson, had many a memory, good and bad…

Mile 1 – this was in January, obviously.  I started a new trend of Sunday morning treadmill running.  I remember turning on “Buckwild” on MTV (RIP Shain) and plugging away at some preset workouts.  These were tough!  I went slow.  Really slow.  I had completely lost running fitness last winter and I had gained a few pounds.  Treadmill running is always more difficult for me anyway, but I remember those first few workouts being killer.  

Somewhere around mile 62 - my life changed.  My Nike GPS Sport Watch arrived.  This was a huge milestone, and a major turning point in my running career.  Last year, I ran with my iPod and Nike +.  I calibrated it for accuracy, but it would never be quite right.  I finally had a REAL tool to know how far and how fast I was going.  I remember my first run with it, it was in February.  I through on a sweatshirt and some capris and headed out after work.  It was a really nice day for February, and the fresh, cold air was the first runner’s high of the year!

Approximately mile 147 - March, my first race of the year!  It was so miserably cold and windy.  But I was determined to plow through those 5 miles and

score a medal.  I placed 2^nd in my age group, which at the time was a real bummer.  I knew I could do better, I just had to work for it.

Longest mile – Well, it was still the exact length of ONE mile, but the longest mile of the year award goes to the HILL mile of the Yankton RiverRat half marathon.  Mile 10.  I focused my entire race strategy and pace around having enough gas in the tank to get up that stupid hill.  It was long and tough, but reaching the top was the greatest feeling, and I cranked out the rest of the race much faster than I thought it would.

Finishing the RiverRat half

 

Fastest mile – 6:55 first mile of the Governor’s Cup in Lincoln.  Nothing like starting too fast.

“I love life mile” – somewhere in the Omaha Half Marathon.  This was just perfect all around.

Slowest mile – 10:09 in the middle of a rough morning run.  I had some sort of issue with my quad and IT band.  It was a bad knot, not sure where it came from, but it was quick to go away.  I was 3 miles from home and needed to get back there quickly to have time to shower and make it to work on time.  It was completely devastating for me to see the 10 on my watch.  

Hands down most miserable mile ever, like please shoot me and put me out of my misery – ok, there have been more than one of these.  They are always the last 1-2 miles from home, and the reason I’m asking to be shot is because that would be less painful than my stomach at that time.  So these are the “runner’s trot” miles.  You know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.

Most painful mile – Mile 11 of what was supposed to be an 18 mile training run for my marathon. This was when I finally stopped and walked limped home because of my hip.  Bawling most of the way.

I still refer to this as Mary Decker day

Whether it was fast or slow, rainy or dry, dreadmill or road, windy or calm, race or a 5AM weekday, every mile has a story and a memory.  If my brain could spit out a transcript of every thought that’s gone through it in those miles, lord knows it would be long, and no one would probably want to read it… Here’s to those wonderful, painful, miserable, glorious miles, and thousands more to come. 

Lessons learned the hard way…

It’s been about a month and a half since I was in full blown marathon training mode and ended up straining my hip flexor, bringing training to a screeching, bawling, stop… I didn’t come a brain surgeon or Bill Gates in this last month and a half, but I pride myself in how much SMARTER I’ve become. My injury was 100% due to overtraining, and not taking proper recovery steps. There have been many times where I’ve said “if I could just go back in time…” The more I think about it, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t change anything about the last month and a half and how it all went down. This marathon was not meant to be. It was supposed to simply be a lesson. Lesson learned. The hard way. 

#1. Stretching is a PRIORITY now. I was terrible about stretching before getting hurt. I rarely stretched after a run, and before heading out would be a couple quick toe touches and I’d call it good. BAD. All of my training is done in the mornings, weekdays it’s before work. Sitting in an office chair for 8 hours after a run without stretching is a recipe for disaster. Every single run now is followed by a foam rolling session and stretches. Even if it’s just one mile, foam and stretch. I read online it is beneficial to roll first and then stretch. I don’t know that it matters, I have found this order works best for me, so I’m sticking to it. 

#2. Understand the term “overtraining.” I don’t know if this is in Webster or not, but I did not understand the meaning. I was doing it. I don’t feel like I was overtraining in the mileage sense. I was following a novice training plan, and truthfully some weeks didn’t feel like I was running enough. I was over doing everything else. Obsessively. I wouldn’t dream of missing my core training class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon. The world would end if for some reason I couldn’t make it to class. Monday nights were a required spin night. Which is fine, cross training is good, and spin is probably my favorite form. Weightlifting needs to be done with some sense. I did not use sense, I kept increasing my leg extension weight, while not equally increasing leg curl and abductor and adductor. Unbalanced muscles = troubles. If I would have cooled the jets on all this other junk and focused on miles and stretching and REST…some of my pains would have been avoided. 

#3. KT Tape. Seriously. Miracle tape. 

#4. Take the pressure off. I would beat myself up over a missed run or missed workout. I picked a pretty condensed training plan based on the time I had before the race, so every day seemed absolutely vital. I know now to start training plenty ahead of time to allow for more flexibility if life occurs and heaven forbid I have to miss a run. Don't take anything too seriously ;)