I suppose it's been a little while since my last post; I fear that work and general exhaustion have taken a bite out of my gusto for blogging. And running too, apparently. I better recap a bit: this last week of training wasn't horrible, but it wasn't that great either. The first training run of the week took place in the rain...yipee. I have almost no experience running in the rain...I'm not from 'round these parts. Even by the local's standards, it was quite a downpour. Luckily it was only a 5 mile run; unluckily it still took me a long time to finish it because it was the first run following the long run, and those have never been very easy for me; I'm still stiff and kinda sore from the long run and I don't tend to push myself very hard.
Since work started I have slacked pretty significantly in taking care of my knees, which at this point are probably what can keep from succeeding, and I REALLY felt it during the 8 mile run in the middle of the week. It was then I decided I need to try harder and make time for tlc, or I won't make it through the marathon. I don't have as much time to ice as before, but I did try and remedy that during the latter part of the week: icing in the car during the commute to work in the morning and icing while sitting at my desk during the afternoon. (My boss thought it odd that I had a bag of frozen peas on the floor of my office...I had hopped up for a minute to do something and she came in.) Oh well, whatever works.
I'm sure it helped some, but I think I waited too long to make the effort in order for it to really make a difference for this morning's 18 miler. I survived, but it was fairly painful...and long. I thought I'd done a good job hydrating, but I don't think it was enough consdering the heat wave we've had the last couple of days; it was much warmer today than it has been the last few weeks. (You'd think that 160 ounces of gatorade in the last 16 hours would be enough...and thats JUST gatorade...doesn't include the 200 ounces of water from yesterday.) Overall exhaustion from work, lack of sleep and sore knees kept me moving pretty slow. But at least I finished! (I think I listened to the All-American Rejects song "Move Along" 3 times in a row for motivation during the last 2 miles.) I also seemed to lose a lot of time today, nothing seemed to be going smoothly. I had to stop for two potty breaks, instead of the usual one, and at one point I got a rock in my shoe and had to take the whole thing off to get it out. All those little minutes add up. Also there was some sort of bike race going on on part of my route, so I had to go a different way. Those bikers are scary fast! I think I was the one needing the helmet while trying to share the trail with them. Ok enough complaining.
Now I get to start tapering, yay! My long run for the upcoming week is only 9 miles, halleluja! My life-saving book says that all the muscular, skeletal, cardio and mental training work is complete, and the next 3 weeks are for bodily and emotional recovery. I'm to keep up the carbs and fluids to build up the glycogen levels to their max, without gaining any fat...which means I'll need to ease up a bit on the calories. The book says that even an extra pound of fat during the marathon would make a negative difference.
I am growing rather nervous about the actual distance of the marathon: 26.2 miles. I know how I feel after 18...I can barely walk until after my ice bath. My books swears that if I can run 18, then I can run the marathon...but it's so strange to run 18 miles and think about having 8 whole more miles to go! The good news is that when I hit the 18 mile mark today, I felt as if I could keep going; I didn't necessarily want to, but I could have, so that's encouraging. I keep hearing the saying, "the last 6 miles are the last half of the marathon". I know I'm gonna be hurting pretty bad and hating myself, but hopefully all the mental training will kick in and carry me through. Hopefully.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Three weeks to go
I can hardly believe there are only 3 weeks to go until the marathon...time flies! Although I wouldn't have said that during my 18 mile run this morning...it felt like forever! I am super proud of myself for making it and not dying; at the end I actually felt like I could keep going...weird. Either that means my training has been successful, or I just haven't hit the wall yet. I was tired, but I don't think I actually hit the wall. I was doing everything I could think of to sustain myself: extra gatorade, started drinking earlier in the run and had two gels, the first at mile 8 and the second at mile 14. Those energy gel things are pretty gross but I think they really help. Even if they only make me feel better and the energy is all in my head...then they helped. I think next week I may even try stashing more than one gatorade...(I drive down to the far away parts of my route the night befor a long run and hide a gatorade in the bushes). I always feel like a shady character doing it, but oh well. Probably worse is when there are people around when I go to dig it out..."that girl just got a gatorade out of the bushes...".
I decided today that I needed to revisit my original goal of running a marathon: finishing the marathon. That's it. Nothing else. I think I've been getting too caught up in beating the clock and focusing on miles per minute, etc and it actually drags me down. If I don't reach the pace goal that I've set for myself then I feel like I've failed. There should be no room for that...I just ran 18 miles! It doesn't matter that it took a long time, I still did it. No failure in that.
This past week of training has been kind of a challenge for me: I started a new job on Monday morning, so I don't have nearly the same amount of free time I had before. And I'm exhausted. I can't bring myself to wake up early enough to do the runs in the morning before work, so I'm trying to do them in the evening, before it gets dark. Last week that didn't go so well...I come home so starving hungry that when it's dinnertime I EAT. Then I have to wait at least an hour to go running...and by then it's starting to get dark...then two hours later...it's too dark. So I'll have to work on perfecting that this week.
Speaking of eating...this is getting ridiculous. I'm ready for this to be over so I can go back to eating like a normal person. I burned around 7200 calories this morning. I know that only happens one day a week...but during the other runs I burn about 2000 and 3200 calories...depending on the day. No wonder I eat like a HORSE. It didn't sound like much to me until I compared it to what I would normally eat...whoa. So on top of trying to make up for what I've burned, I have to eat like a normal person, and that equals a lot of food. During these high-mileage weeks I've really been packing it in. My book says that from here on out I need to focus more on nutrition and hydration to keep everything stalked up for race day. No gaining or losing weight...just keep it steady. I can hardly wait to start tapering, only 1 more week!
Cumulative mileage total: 260.5
I decided today that I needed to revisit my original goal of running a marathon: finishing the marathon. That's it. Nothing else. I think I've been getting too caught up in beating the clock and focusing on miles per minute, etc and it actually drags me down. If I don't reach the pace goal that I've set for myself then I feel like I've failed. There should be no room for that...I just ran 18 miles! It doesn't matter that it took a long time, I still did it. No failure in that.
This past week of training has been kind of a challenge for me: I started a new job on Monday morning, so I don't have nearly the same amount of free time I had before. And I'm exhausted. I can't bring myself to wake up early enough to do the runs in the morning before work, so I'm trying to do them in the evening, before it gets dark. Last week that didn't go so well...I come home so starving hungry that when it's dinnertime I EAT. Then I have to wait at least an hour to go running...and by then it's starting to get dark...then two hours later...it's too dark. So I'll have to work on perfecting that this week.
Speaking of eating...this is getting ridiculous. I'm ready for this to be over so I can go back to eating like a normal person. I burned around 7200 calories this morning. I know that only happens one day a week...but during the other runs I burn about 2000 and 3200 calories...depending on the day. No wonder I eat like a HORSE. It didn't sound like much to me until I compared it to what I would normally eat...whoa. So on top of trying to make up for what I've burned, I have to eat like a normal person, and that equals a lot of food. During these high-mileage weeks I've really been packing it in. My book says that from here on out I need to focus more on nutrition and hydration to keep everything stalked up for race day. No gaining or losing weight...just keep it steady. I can hardly wait to start tapering, only 1 more week!
Cumulative mileage total: 260.5
Friday, August 28, 2009
Beginning of the end...
Today marks the end of week 11 and the beginning of week 12, only 4 more weeks to go! I can hardly imagine I am 3/4 of the way through training. Too bad the next 2 weeks will be the most difficult so far, coupled with the fact that I start work on Monday, and that means I won't have nearly the same amount of time or energy that I've enjoyed all summer. I'm a little nervous about how that is going to go. While I'm at work it will be much harder to ice regularly and stay hydrated; I doubt my new employer will like it if I'm going to the bathroom every 20 minutes...which is the true story of my last 2 1/2 months.
I am, however, very encouraged after today's run. I conquered the last of the 16 mile runs! It was a bit warmer than I would have liked, but I was so thankful I managed to force down 200+ ounces of water yesterday. I was feeling rather discouraged last week because I was going so slow and experiencing so much knee pain and not sure what do about it. I took 2 extra rest days this past week and really concentrated on ice sessions, regular doses of ibuprofen and stretching and I think it really helped. I did break down buy new running shoes, which I really didn't want to do, but I realized that my shoes could be the deciding factor in whether I finish this or not. My shoes had well over 200 miles on them. I also bought a knee brace that I wore during the long run today and as far as I can tell it helped tremendously. I'm still keeping up with my preventative regimen, including ice baths, but I'm not having any knee pain right now, so that's good news!
Mentally I'm beginning to try and prepare myself for what is called "hitting the wall", which should be coming during next week's long run: 18 miles. "Hitting the wall" apparently happens when you're body is completely depleted of glycogen and carbohydrates, despite regular hydration with fluid replacements all throughout the run; it's just what happens when you run that far. Extreme fatigue sets in and you will truly believe you can't go on. Another. Step. But because of all the mental preparation and training that you've been practicing during these last 11 weeks...you will make it past the wall. ALL the training, mental and physical, comes down to these last 6-8 miles. And I will get a taste of it during the next two weeks.
My body believes whatever my mind tells it, the wall is only as big as I believe it to be.
Cumulative mileage total: 233.5
I am, however, very encouraged after today's run. I conquered the last of the 16 mile runs! It was a bit warmer than I would have liked, but I was so thankful I managed to force down 200+ ounces of water yesterday. I was feeling rather discouraged last week because I was going so slow and experiencing so much knee pain and not sure what do about it. I took 2 extra rest days this past week and really concentrated on ice sessions, regular doses of ibuprofen and stretching and I think it really helped. I did break down buy new running shoes, which I really didn't want to do, but I realized that my shoes could be the deciding factor in whether I finish this or not. My shoes had well over 200 miles on them. I also bought a knee brace that I wore during the long run today and as far as I can tell it helped tremendously. I'm still keeping up with my preventative regimen, including ice baths, but I'm not having any knee pain right now, so that's good news!
Mentally I'm beginning to try and prepare myself for what is called "hitting the wall", which should be coming during next week's long run: 18 miles. "Hitting the wall" apparently happens when you're body is completely depleted of glycogen and carbohydrates, despite regular hydration with fluid replacements all throughout the run; it's just what happens when you run that far. Extreme fatigue sets in and you will truly believe you can't go on. Another. Step. But because of all the mental preparation and training that you've been practicing during these last 11 weeks...you will make it past the wall. ALL the training, mental and physical, comes down to these last 6-8 miles. And I will get a taste of it during the next two weeks.
My body believes whatever my mind tells it, the wall is only as big as I believe it to be.
Cumulative mileage total: 233.5
Friday, August 21, 2009
Week 10: check
This morning I completed my second of three 16-mile runs, and I'm sorry to say that it took me longer than the first time. :( Bummer. I'm gonna go ahead and blame it on my knees. They've been giving me some trouble this week and I feared today might be rough, and it was. I was doing okay yesterday with my dosages of ibuprofen and frequent ice sessions, so I was optimistic today...until I hit mile 2 and began to feel them. Both were unhappy, but specifically the right one, as usual, was worse. Thankfully somewhere around mile 6 they seemed to accept their fate and began sulking, rather than screaming. Much appreciated. Fortunately I made it all 16 miles, but since my ice bath I've been a heap of worthlessness.
Other than my knees, a new blister, and being so beyond slow, my 16 mile early morning adventure was most definitely not boring. I'd like to thank the wonderfully diverse group of people who populate my running route: first I saw a guy running with no shoes, (which I've heard actually isn't that bad, as long as you aren't running long distances) and unfortunately he wasn't wearing much else either; his shorts looked like they were made of wheat or leaves, or some other plant material, and I haven't seen dreadlocks like that since Central America. My guess is that he was trying to draw the energies of Mother Earth up through his feet. Most likely. A while later on I saw an older guy with an hawaiian shirt on, and a straw hat with a huuge pink flower laye (sp?) wrapped around it...and this guy was BEYOND tan. Like, fresh off the cruiseboat tan. Shortly after that I saw a cute little old guy wearing the TINIEST little white shorts you've ever seen held up by suspenders, looong white tube socks and some sort of bavarian-looking hat with a giant feather sticking out the top. This guy saluted me, said good morning and greeted me with a toothless grin. A few miles later when I was on my way back down the trail, the hawaiian and the bavaran shorts guy had apparently become friends and were walking together, and they'd picked up a third...a cowboy. Large cowboy hat. Yesss.
Not long after that I saw a lady with two dogs, and one of the poor dogs, a smallish dog, (definitely smaller than Rocky Raccoon) had some sort of brace contraption attached to its hips, and the back end of the brace was on wheels! Rolling behind the dog! I've never seen anything like that before, and I hope it helps, whatever it is. I decided I shouldn't laugh though, I'll probably need one of those things when all this is over.
I also extended my route a big further today and it was nice. I wrapped around some pretty ponds on a nice little trail, and then followed it on under the freeway...which gave me the creeps. (I found out later that someone once fell off that part of the freeway and landed on the trail and died. Gah.) When I noticed that someone had left their sleeping bag in the middle of the trail, I decided I might not go back that way.
Onward to week 11 whilst I baby my knees.
Other than my knees, a new blister, and being so beyond slow, my 16 mile early morning adventure was most definitely not boring. I'd like to thank the wonderfully diverse group of people who populate my running route: first I saw a guy running with no shoes, (which I've heard actually isn't that bad, as long as you aren't running long distances) and unfortunately he wasn't wearing much else either; his shorts looked like they were made of wheat or leaves, or some other plant material, and I haven't seen dreadlocks like that since Central America. My guess is that he was trying to draw the energies of Mother Earth up through his feet. Most likely. A while later on I saw an older guy with an hawaiian shirt on, and a straw hat with a huuge pink flower laye (sp?) wrapped around it...and this guy was BEYOND tan. Like, fresh off the cruiseboat tan. Shortly after that I saw a cute little old guy wearing the TINIEST little white shorts you've ever seen held up by suspenders, looong white tube socks and some sort of bavarian-looking hat with a giant feather sticking out the top. This guy saluted me, said good morning and greeted me with a toothless grin. A few miles later when I was on my way back down the trail, the hawaiian and the bavaran shorts guy had apparently become friends and were walking together, and they'd picked up a third...a cowboy. Large cowboy hat. Yesss.
Not long after that I saw a lady with two dogs, and one of the poor dogs, a smallish dog, (definitely smaller than Rocky Raccoon) had some sort of brace contraption attached to its hips, and the back end of the brace was on wheels! Rolling behind the dog! I've never seen anything like that before, and I hope it helps, whatever it is. I decided I shouldn't laugh though, I'll probably need one of those things when all this is over.
I also extended my route a big further today and it was nice. I wrapped around some pretty ponds on a nice little trail, and then followed it on under the freeway...which gave me the creeps. (I found out later that someone once fell off that part of the freeway and landed on the trail and died. Gah.) When I noticed that someone had left their sleeping bag in the middle of the trail, I decided I might not go back that way.
Onward to week 11 whilst I baby my knees.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
It's official!
I officially just registered for the Portland Marathon, October 4, 2009! Now I just have to keep praying I don't get injured before then. Maybe in a couple weeks it will feel more real.
I am halfway through with week 10 today and have decided to work a little harder taking care of my knees...they continue to remain tender and sore. I finally broke down and began taking some ibuprofen and going to take more time to apply ice and I think that should help quite a bit. For a while I kind of though I could get away without taking medication (even though my book said I wouldn't be able to, so I shouldn't try)...and it was right. Darn it.
I had a really good 16 mile run last Saturday and was so proud of myself for making it! I was pretty sore for the rest of the day but felt pretty good the day after. The next couple of weeks plateau briefly before jumping up for the final mileage increase and it feels sort of weird to have to do the same run twice, and then three times. My guidebook recommends I try doing some things to keep my emotions boosted so I don't start feeling less motivated. The fact that the mileage increases every week is designed to maintain high levels of motivation...the more you run, the easier it is to run more. A plateau for 3 weeks in a row can seem boring and frustrating, so I hope I can make it through. No stopping now!
Today's 8 mile training run was really hot and hilly; I explored some new territory which was pretty exciting, so I'm hoping that will help me be less bored. After I got warmed up I really enjoyed it. I don't think it would make the best route for a long run because of all the hills, but a really good training run.
It seems so weird to look at the calendar and only 5 1/2 more weeks of training left...that isn't very many! I hope this is working!
I am halfway through with week 10 today and have decided to work a little harder taking care of my knees...they continue to remain tender and sore. I finally broke down and began taking some ibuprofen and going to take more time to apply ice and I think that should help quite a bit. For a while I kind of though I could get away without taking medication (even though my book said I wouldn't be able to, so I shouldn't try)...and it was right. Darn it.
I had a really good 16 mile run last Saturday and was so proud of myself for making it! I was pretty sore for the rest of the day but felt pretty good the day after. The next couple of weeks plateau briefly before jumping up for the final mileage increase and it feels sort of weird to have to do the same run twice, and then three times. My guidebook recommends I try doing some things to keep my emotions boosted so I don't start feeling less motivated. The fact that the mileage increases every week is designed to maintain high levels of motivation...the more you run, the easier it is to run more. A plateau for 3 weeks in a row can seem boring and frustrating, so I hope I can make it through. No stopping now!
Today's 8 mile training run was really hot and hilly; I explored some new territory which was pretty exciting, so I'm hoping that will help me be less bored. After I got warmed up I really enjoyed it. I don't think it would make the best route for a long run because of all the hills, but a really good training run.
It seems so weird to look at the calendar and only 5 1/2 more weeks of training left...that isn't very many! I hope this is working!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Rocky Raccoon
Ok, well I just had a really terrible run. I'm gonna do a little venting and hopefully get it all out of my system so that I can work on a fresh attitude...tomorrow needs to be better. First off it was SUPER humid and muggy this morning; probably the most humidity I've felt since being in Central America. So right off the bat I was dripping sweat like crazy...and stayed that way through the entire run. Somewhere between miles 3 and 4 I was feeling something very wrong in my right baby toe. I wanted to get closer to home before stopping to look at it so I pushed on a bit further; I nearly tripped over/stepped on a dead raccoon that was laying partially in the shoulder where I run. I came up on it so fast and was totally not expecting to see it laying there that I did a little hoppity jump over it...but still managed to step on his tail. EWWWW. It was not there when I ran by earlier, so I knew it had been dead less than an hour. This thing was HUGE...bigger than most dogs...and bloody and SICK. I started gagging uncontrolably and trying not to barf.
Unfortunately I misjudged my distance today and hit the ending 7 mile mark about a half mile away from home. Normally, not too big of a deal...but today of course it was. I finally stopped running and took off my right shoe and sock only to discover 3 gigantic blisters covering my entire baby toe. I wore socks that I've never worn running before, so that's my best guess as to what caused such horrible blisters. I knew there was no putting my shoe back on, so I limped the remaining half a mile back to the house, drenched in sweat and feeling nauceous from my little "run-in" with Rocky Raccoon.
On top of all that I picked today to forget to put bandaids on my arm...(I have been battling runner's rash on the inside of my upper left arm)...and so now I have about the worst case yet. Horribly, horribly painful.
Here's to a better day tomorrow.
Unfortunately I misjudged my distance today and hit the ending 7 mile mark about a half mile away from home. Normally, not too big of a deal...but today of course it was. I finally stopped running and took off my right shoe and sock only to discover 3 gigantic blisters covering my entire baby toe. I wore socks that I've never worn running before, so that's my best guess as to what caused such horrible blisters. I knew there was no putting my shoe back on, so I limped the remaining half a mile back to the house, drenched in sweat and feeling nauceous from my little "run-in" with Rocky Raccoon.
On top of all that I picked today to forget to put bandaids on my arm...(I have been battling runner's rash on the inside of my upper left arm)...and so now I have about the worst case yet. Horribly, horribly painful.
Here's to a better day tomorrow.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Quick recap
Last Friday morning I completed the scheduled 14 mile run, and it went remarkably well. I was very tired and pretty sore when it was all over, but oddly enough, less sore than the 12 miler the week before. I know I'm still a pretty slow runner, but I was pretty proud of myself because I did the 14 miles in 15 minutes less than what I'd planned.
And yes, I caved and took an ice bath. After being in so much pain a couple weeks ago, I did a little research and got some advice from runner's I know...they all said take an ice bath. It has a similar affect to applying ice to a wound: reduces inflammation and speeds up muscle recovery time...only for the entire leg, not just once specific area; which is really almost required for this amount of trauma. Overall it really wasn't as bad as I imagined, but definitely not on my list of favorite things to do. And unfortunately, it worked. My legs felt better immediately after getting out of the tub, so now I fear this has to become a regular part of my training program. Darn it.
I began week 9 this morning with a quick 4 miler, but since I had two rest days in between runs instead of the usual one day, I was bit stiff. (I also think that sleeping on the ground for those two nights didn't help much...we were camping. Without sleeping pads. Oops.) The first couple of miles were awfully slow and I wasn't really enjoying it, but it did get better.
I've discovered that I actually enjoy the longer runs a little bit more than the shorter runs. It takes me just about 3 miles to get warmed up and feeling the rhythm, and until then I don't really enjoy it very much. It's a lot of work, my body feels like it's jerking around and pounding the ground really hard. So the runs that are only 4 miles long, don't really get comfortable until mile 3...so the majority of it isn't very fun. Now I'm not saying I LOVE 14 miles, but anything over 5 I find to be much more enjoyable.
I'm getting a little bit nervous for what's coming up: the next 4 weeks or so are going to be a LOT of miles. I jump up to 16 for this week's long run. It's weird to think back to when 5 and 6 miles were the long runs...ha. I'm praying for cooler weather next week because I jump up to 5:8:5:18. Yikes.
And yes, I caved and took an ice bath. After being in so much pain a couple weeks ago, I did a little research and got some advice from runner's I know...they all said take an ice bath. It has a similar affect to applying ice to a wound: reduces inflammation and speeds up muscle recovery time...only for the entire leg, not just once specific area; which is really almost required for this amount of trauma. Overall it really wasn't as bad as I imagined, but definitely not on my list of favorite things to do. And unfortunately, it worked. My legs felt better immediately after getting out of the tub, so now I fear this has to become a regular part of my training program. Darn it.
I began week 9 this morning with a quick 4 miler, but since I had two rest days in between runs instead of the usual one day, I was bit stiff. (I also think that sleeping on the ground for those two nights didn't help much...we were camping. Without sleeping pads. Oops.) The first couple of miles were awfully slow and I wasn't really enjoying it, but it did get better.
I've discovered that I actually enjoy the longer runs a little bit more than the shorter runs. It takes me just about 3 miles to get warmed up and feeling the rhythm, and until then I don't really enjoy it very much. It's a lot of work, my body feels like it's jerking around and pounding the ground really hard. So the runs that are only 4 miles long, don't really get comfortable until mile 3...so the majority of it isn't very fun. Now I'm not saying I LOVE 14 miles, but anything over 5 I find to be much more enjoyable.
I'm getting a little bit nervous for what's coming up: the next 4 weeks or so are going to be a LOT of miles. I jump up to 16 for this week's long run. It's weird to think back to when 5 and 6 miles were the long runs...ha. I'm praying for cooler weather next week because I jump up to 5:8:5:18. Yikes.
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