It's been a while, eh? Five months. Five months ago, complaining about only finishing 14 of my 20 mile long run. What's happened since then? Well, I decided I didn't want to run Grandma's. The week after my terrible long run, I was made a supervisor at work. Running never stands up well to my life changes. Becoming a supervisor didn't equate to that many more hours of work each week, but the stress of extra meetings and being responsible for more than just myself added up pretty quickly. Keeping a consistent running schedule would have helped with that, but alas, I let it fall by the wayside.
Since my "failed" long run of 14 miles in May, I've averaged *gulp* 7 miles per week. I joined an ultimate frisbee team this summer, and that was tons of fun. Sprinting around during frisbee games actually kept me in pretty good shape. The two or three additional runs I did per week felt okay, and my pace didn't suffer from my lack of mileage.
In August, frisbee ended, and so did my fitness. Three miles is doable, but my easy, I-can-breathe pace is now a miserable 10:40+/mile. I did a marathon at 10:38 pace! What is this crap?!
As you can imagine, my newly discovered lack of endurance and speed is hard to accept. Anything under 7 miles used to be a short run, and now I'm elated when I do more than 3. Sometimes I don't even make it that far. I've done 19 miles at a faster pace than my easy 2.6 mile run the other day. Woe is me!
All that being said, I've learned an important lesson. The saying "Use it or lose it" is true. And although I'm complaining about how far I've fallen, the fact is that I can still do a 5 mile run, albeit slowly. Better to step in now and accept my shortcomings, rather than deny there's a problem and let the 3 mile run wither into a 1 mile walk. And the flip side to all this is that I can regain what I've lost. I'm not injured, just lazy. As long as I'm consistent and smart about training, I can reclaim and even surpass what I once had.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
soul searching
Today I did something I've never done before. In the middle of my long run, a negative thought crossed my mind, and I abruptly stopped running, called my husband, and had him come pick me up. I was at mile 14 of a 20 mile long run.
That thought? "This sucks. Why am I doing this to myself? Running is supposed to be my hobby." Now that I'm back at home, warm and cozy, I'm still having very negative feelings about marathon training. The run itself wasn't going that badly. The weather was bad (low 40s, drizzly, and windy), but not that bad for running. I was keeping a decent pace. I know I could have made it all the way. But I didn't want to.
And I still don't want to. Runs up to 10 miles? Awesome! Runs up to 15 miles? Tolerable! Sometimes enjoyable! Anything longer than that? Crap! I don't want to spend 3+ hours of my Saturdays running. After that amount of running, the thrill is gone, and it's all about mental toughness. It's all about pushing the negative thoughts out of my head. I failed at that today.
To be honest, I'm okay that I failed. Running is my hobby. It relaxes me. It makes me feel good about myself. After a long week at work, I don't want a hobby that forces me to devote a weekend morning to more mental toughness. And I don't want to end up resenting running because it can (and does) bring such joy to my life.
This is a hard realization to make, though. I've always been in love with the idea of running marathons. I believe part of that is innate, and part of it is the idea of being able to achieve glory, even if you're not the best. I'm not sure why running a slow marathon seems much more glorious to me than running a fast half, but it does.
Anyway, I've been naive. When I think of running a marathon, I think of a single day, a single race, a single 4.5 hour chunk of time surrounded by cheering fans. Getting to the point where I can run a marathon at a pace I deem acceptable for myself is a whole different beast. It's (theoretically) running 4-6 days a week for 18+ weeks. Alone. It's saying no to drinks with friends because of training that should have been done earlier. It's making the decision on Saturdays to devote time to the race I've committed to, rather than the husband I'm devoted to. It's paranoia about injuries and guilt about missed (or shortened... ahem) runs.
This will be my second marathon, and it's harder this time around. Last time, there was always the joy of reaching a new distance. This time, there's no, "Yay, I ran 18 miles! I've never done that before!" There's only, "Thank God that's over. Why hasn't my pace improved since last year?" Today I contemplated not continuing training, but my husband encouraged me to just recharge and try again next week. Finish what I started. So that's what I'll do, and then I'm not signing up for another one. Not until next spring, at least. :)
That thought? "This sucks. Why am I doing this to myself? Running is supposed to be my hobby." Now that I'm back at home, warm and cozy, I'm still having very negative feelings about marathon training. The run itself wasn't going that badly. The weather was bad (low 40s, drizzly, and windy), but not that bad for running. I was keeping a decent pace. I know I could have made it all the way. But I didn't want to.
And I still don't want to. Runs up to 10 miles? Awesome! Runs up to 15 miles? Tolerable! Sometimes enjoyable! Anything longer than that? Crap! I don't want to spend 3+ hours of my Saturdays running. After that amount of running, the thrill is gone, and it's all about mental toughness. It's all about pushing the negative thoughts out of my head. I failed at that today.
To be honest, I'm okay that I failed. Running is my hobby. It relaxes me. It makes me feel good about myself. After a long week at work, I don't want a hobby that forces me to devote a weekend morning to more mental toughness. And I don't want to end up resenting running because it can (and does) bring such joy to my life.
This is a hard realization to make, though. I've always been in love with the idea of running marathons. I believe part of that is innate, and part of it is the idea of being able to achieve glory, even if you're not the best. I'm not sure why running a slow marathon seems much more glorious to me than running a fast half, but it does.
Anyway, I've been naive. When I think of running a marathon, I think of a single day, a single race, a single 4.5 hour chunk of time surrounded by cheering fans. Getting to the point where I can run a marathon at a pace I deem acceptable for myself is a whole different beast. It's (theoretically) running 4-6 days a week for 18+ weeks. Alone. It's saying no to drinks with friends because of training that should have been done earlier. It's making the decision on Saturdays to devote time to the race I've committed to, rather than the husband I'm devoted to. It's paranoia about injuries and guilt about missed (or shortened... ahem) runs.
This will be my second marathon, and it's harder this time around. Last time, there was always the joy of reaching a new distance. This time, there's no, "Yay, I ran 18 miles! I've never done that before!" There's only, "Thank God that's over. Why hasn't my pace improved since last year?" Today I contemplated not continuing training, but my husband encouraged me to just recharge and try again next week. Finish what I started. So that's what I'll do, and then I'm not signing up for another one. Not until next spring, at least. :)
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
I'm alive
Hello, world! I'm alive. I haven't posted since January, eh? I thought about posting once or twice but didn't want to have to admit that this round of marathon training is eerily similar to last round of marathon training. What does that mean? Well, that means that I've been slacking. Or perhaps the word is inconsistent. I've had a few 40+ mile weeks. I've also had a good number of weeks in the single digits.
After a 42 mile week, a 30 mile week, and an amazing 15 mile run at medium effort at last year's marathon pace, my right knee started giving me issues. My family has a history of joint problems (my dad's hip replacement in his 40s, for example), so I made the executive decision to take a week off. I realllly didn't want to, though, because the hardest part of running for me is making it a habit. And sure enough, taking a week off of running broke my habit. But after a month of mediocre weeks, I'm back in the game now! My knee feels stiff sometimes, but it's not painful, and (I think) I'm not altering my stride. Lesson learned: cheap running shoes and crazy mileage increases will destroy you.
I've set a more realistic goal for Grandma's Marathon: 4:15. Okay, that's still going to be quite the challenge. But oh well. I'm not getting so bogged down with times lately. My friend Nicole has magically (errr, through consistent hard work) gotten speedy, and here I am, still poking around at about the same paces as last year. I'm confident that I'll at least PR, and honestly, what more can I ask of myself? I want to keep improving, keep striving to be the best that I can be.
Emphasis on the I. The best that I can be, considering the crazy weeks at work I sometimes have, the friends and family I don't want to neglect, TV shows I want to keep up with, sleep that I like to get. I want to keep running a healthy part of my life, not something that makes me feel guilty if I don't do it, and not something I do while sacrificing the quality of the rest of my life.
And so, with that said, my revised Grandma's Marathon goals:
Gold star goal: 4:15
Tinfoil star goal: PR (sub-4:38)
And if I don't make either of those, whatever. It's the journey, not the destination.
And I would like to point out that a 4:38 marathon is a 10:37/mi pace. I was disappointed with that. But as I'm doing my long runs now, I think, "Damn! That's kinda fast! How did I manage to pull that off?"
After a 42 mile week, a 30 mile week, and an amazing 15 mile run at medium effort at last year's marathon pace, my right knee started giving me issues. My family has a history of joint problems (my dad's hip replacement in his 40s, for example), so I made the executive decision to take a week off. I realllly didn't want to, though, because the hardest part of running for me is making it a habit. And sure enough, taking a week off of running broke my habit. But after a month of mediocre weeks, I'm back in the game now! My knee feels stiff sometimes, but it's not painful, and (I think) I'm not altering my stride. Lesson learned: cheap running shoes and crazy mileage increases will destroy you.
I've set a more realistic goal for Grandma's Marathon: 4:15. Okay, that's still going to be quite the challenge. But oh well. I'm not getting so bogged down with times lately. My friend Nicole has magically (errr, through consistent hard work) gotten speedy, and here I am, still poking around at about the same paces as last year. I'm confident that I'll at least PR, and honestly, what more can I ask of myself? I want to keep improving, keep striving to be the best that I can be.
Emphasis on the I. The best that I can be, considering the crazy weeks at work I sometimes have, the friends and family I don't want to neglect, TV shows I want to keep up with, sleep that I like to get. I want to keep running a healthy part of my life, not something that makes me feel guilty if I don't do it, and not something I do while sacrificing the quality of the rest of my life.
And so, with that said, my revised Grandma's Marathon goals:
Gold star goal: 4:15
Tinfoil star goal: PR (sub-4:38)
And if I don't make either of those, whatever. It's the journey, not the destination.
And I would like to point out that a 4:38 marathon is a 10:37/mi pace. I was disappointed with that. But as I'm doing my long runs now, I think, "Damn! That's kinda fast! How did I manage to pull that off?"
Sunday, January 31, 2010
week 1 summary
Most marathon training programs start 18 weeks out from the date of the marathon. I started mine last Sunday, which gives me 21 weeks to prepare. Why start now? Well, I need more time to build a good base. Since the Lakefront Marathon in October, I've only been running an average of 15 miles per week. Plus, my half marathon was last Saturday, so last Sunday seemed like a good starting point.
My general plan for training for Grandma's Marathon is to base build with ALL slow miles until I reach ~75 miles per week. Then, the first week of April, I will start to incorporate some marathon-pace and tempo runs. Depending on how I'm feeling, in May I'll do a couple weeks of long intervals. And then it's tapering time!
I got Daniels' Running Formula from Amazon, as I heard it had some good info about marathon training. It has some tables with various race times and corresponds that to training paces. Based on my half marathon time of 2:09:41 (I know, didn't even get close to my goal...), all of my runs until April will be at an 11:09 pace. 11:09! I only run that slow when doing crazy long runs! Even my 19.5 mile training run was a little faster than that!
But I decided to trust in the guy with the exercise PhD. And guess what. 11:09 (or 11:06, as that's what 5.4 mph is on the dreadmill) makes runs enjoyable! It's easy in the sense that I probably COULD actually hold a conversation, and I'm not dying a half mile into the run. But it's still exercise, and I can tell it's going to work. I'm still dripping with sweat by mile 2. I still feel amazing afterward.
All that being said, I only got in 25 miles this week. The goal was 38. But I suppose 25 is okay for having raced the past Saturday. I did 4 on Sunday, 6 Tuesday, 8 Thursday, and 7 yesterday. All slow, all on the treadmill. I cannot motivate myself to get outside in this weather. :-/ But I've been using the hill interval program, which should make transitioning to outdoor running less awful once I grow the courage to do it.
Goal for week 2: 41 miles, with a long run of 13 on Saturday. And I WILL make it outside for that one.
My general plan for training for Grandma's Marathon is to base build with ALL slow miles until I reach ~75 miles per week. Then, the first week of April, I will start to incorporate some marathon-pace and tempo runs. Depending on how I'm feeling, in May I'll do a couple weeks of long intervals. And then it's tapering time!
I got Daniels' Running Formula from Amazon, as I heard it had some good info about marathon training. It has some tables with various race times and corresponds that to training paces. Based on my half marathon time of 2:09:41 (I know, didn't even get close to my goal...), all of my runs until April will be at an 11:09 pace. 11:09! I only run that slow when doing crazy long runs! Even my 19.5 mile training run was a little faster than that!
But I decided to trust in the guy with the exercise PhD. And guess what. 11:09 (or 11:06, as that's what 5.4 mph is on the dreadmill) makes runs enjoyable! It's easy in the sense that I probably COULD actually hold a conversation, and I'm not dying a half mile into the run. But it's still exercise, and I can tell it's going to work. I'm still dripping with sweat by mile 2. I still feel amazing afterward.
All that being said, I only got in 25 miles this week. The goal was 38. But I suppose 25 is okay for having raced the past Saturday. I did 4 on Sunday, 6 Tuesday, 8 Thursday, and 7 yesterday. All slow, all on the treadmill. I cannot motivate myself to get outside in this weather. :-/ But I've been using the hill interval program, which should make transitioning to outdoor running less awful once I grow the courage to do it.
Goal for week 2: 41 miles, with a long run of 13 on Saturday. And I WILL make it outside for that one.
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