Jumping Ahead

Running has always been my solution to life’s obstacles. It clears my mind of all worry and frustration when times are tough, and sharpens my appreciation for the things that I am thankful for. Whether experiencing a good day or bad, running never fails to put me in a better place. I used to come home from a 20 miler physically exhausted, but so annoyingly giddy that my family seemed to disappear to tend to other tasks, and let me “relax and cool down” on my own. While I thought that the inability to run would be the most difficult stage of my injury, I did not think about the period I am in at the present: I am able to run, but it takes everything in me to do so at the pace and distance that I want to obtain.

Since beginning to run again, each day has been a struggle. I am thankful for that struggle because it means that I am moving towards my goal, but struggling every day tends to grow a bit tiresome.  Running is not currently my answer to the struggles in life; it is one of my struggles in life. I no longer have a “go to” to fix it. I have decided that when you lose your “go to”; you have two options: Give up and stop where you are, or keep going until you find it again. I chose this week, to keep going, and boy was that the right decision.

My weekday runs on Tuesday (4.25 miles @ 8:25) and Thursday (6.09 miles @ 8:19) were nothing special. Just like the past few weeks I “survived” the run each day and came back drained both physically and mentally. Friday morning I was feeling ambitious and decided to do P90X with Jason, then run, and then do the Ab Ripper X; all before work. After 50 minutes of the most intense push up focused workout I have ever experienced (we began phase II this week), I was seriously questioning my ability to run. It was 6:45am and I had already completed a great workout, I could have easily talked myself out of the run and into the kitchen guilt free for a protein shake, but something deep inside kept tugging me towards the roads. I willed myself out the door and hoped for the best. The 1st 800m was absurdly slow, and the 2^nd was even worse. The first full mile though is mostly uphill, so I comforted my ego with thoughts of a faster 2^nd mile. To my dismay the following mile was just as slow as the 1^st, and there was no excuse this time regarding elevation change. As I began my struggle through the 3^rd mile my mind began to wander, and I started thinking about the days leading up to my last marathon when a 7:20 felt easy. I cannot believe now how much I took for granted just months ago, assuming I would always be that fast if not faster. Lost in thoughts of the “good days” I almost didn’t hear my Garmin beep off the 800m split … then I just stared at those beautiful numbers … 7:45 pace!!! I haven’t seen numbers below the 8 minute mark since my 1^st week back when I stupidly ran as fast as I could at the track! I tried to contain myself, although I noticed that I felt very relaxed despite the bump in time. The next 800m came before I knew it, and I had successfully completed the 3^rd mile of my run in less than 8 minutes. With only 1 mile to go, I tried to keep my pace in check and avoid doing something stupid (like fall off of the curb … not that I have done anything like that before, I am an alert runner). I reminded myself that I still had 2 more runs this week and sprinting now was the worst thing I could do, then I held my breath as the next 800m split popped up on my Garmin … 7:45 pace again! With only 800m to go until home, I relaxed and lived it up. I swear giddiness is a side effect of running, and I must have looked like a fool rounding the corner of my street with a big smile plastered across my face for all to see. It was 7:20am, I was drenched in sweat from the sweltering heat and humidity, I still had the Ab Ripper X workout to go, and I was delirious with excitement.

Over the weekend, Jason and I travelled to Kiawah Island, SC to meet up with my mom for golf lessons. Knowing that Saturday would consist of hours of swinging away at the golf ball, I saved my long run for Sunday. I took advantage of Mom and Jason being too exhausted to think on Saturday evening after our fun day of golf in the 100+ degree temps, and persuaded them to commit to joining me Sunday morning on bikes while I ran. We set off at 8am on the same route I had taken the day before along the island’s pathways meant specifically for bikers, runners, and walkers. The shade provided on the paths for the first 3 miles was fantastic, and we just cruised along chatting. The 4^th mile we ran out of pathways and wound our way through the beautiful, but less shaded, neighborhood streets. With no shade and no breeze, we quickly made the decision to cut over to the beach for the remainder of the run as soon as we saw an opening. The views as we approached the water were spectacular! For a split second I felt like I was running in the opening scene of Chariots of Fire, and it would not have surprised me to hear the theme song playing with men dressed in white running on either side of me. While there were no white clad men, I did have the joy of finishing the run flanked by my two best friends. Running through sand is tough, but I was so happy to be on the beach without a care in the world surrounded by my family, that the miles just flew by. I definitely felt as though I was working for each step, and am still waiting for the run when I zone out and forget that I’ve been running, but it was so worth the work!

With 16 weeks to go before Richmond, I am happy with the progress I have made so far. Looking at my mileage build up for the next few weeks is intimidating, but I am excited to chase down each mini goal leading up to the big day. Running is not my answer to life at the moment, but I don’t think it is one of the problems anymore either, and I am ok with that.

PS - Congratulations to my good friend Brian Resutek for finishing the Ford Ironman Lake Placid this past weekend with an amazing time of 11 hours 14 minutes and 24 seconds!!!  

You are an inspiration!

Breaking into the 20s!

Despite a mid week bout with a stomach bug that made its way around work, on the whole this was a great week. Monday I really should have run in the morning before work to avoid the heat and humidity, but when the alarm clock went off at 5am I just could not bring myself to get out of bed. Feeling guilty from sleeping in, I was determined to run when I got home from work despite temperatures near the 90s and terrible humidity. Somehow I talked Jason into coming with me, but we decided to leave the pups at home due to the heat. We wound our way through random streets in Myers Park for 2 miles with no particular path in mind, then turned around to find a different route back to the car. I have noticed that lately I take a long time to warm up, so when we were close to finishing my body was finally waking up and read to go. Hopefully as my stamina starts improving this won't be an issue much longer. Monday was a great run because my legs were strong and I got to spend time with Jason, but the humidity was killer.

Keeping in mind how difficult Monday was with the humidity, on Wednesday when the alarm clock went off at 5am I dragged myself out of bed for 4 miles. Other than feeling groggy from lack of sleep, nothing stands out about this run for the week so I will skip ahead to Saturday.

This weekend has been long awaited for several months for one very special reason ... HARRY POTTER!!!!! The final movie came out this weekend and my brother in laws, Michael and Brian, plus Michael's girlfriend Erica came down to Charlotte to watch the movie with us. Erica and I have a special bond over Harry Potter, and as soon as the date was released for the last movie we planned to watch it together. With extra people in the house we thought it would be fun to make crepes and serve them with nutella, strawberries and blueberries. We had everything we needed except for the berries, and I decided that running to the grocery store and back would be a great way to get my 5 miles in for the day while productively shopping for groceries. Mike and Reese (our smaller dog) came with me while Erica and Brian stayed with Jason to do Kenpo X. While I think it is really cool to use running to accomplish a task, I don't think that the people in Harris Teeter appreciated my dripping sweat all through the store as I picked out and payed for my products. While in the store I noticed a strong odor and thought something must have gone bad, then I walked outside and it still smelled ... and I realized it was me! I just won't shop there for a while in case they recognize me as the smelly runner girl that bought berries. Mike and I each carried a bag and ran at a relaxed pace back to the house. I must say, Mike is a trooper; I do not know many people that can walk out and run 5 miles for the heck of it. I really enjoyed the company and am glad he came.

Saturday night we were up late watching the new Harry Potter movie so waking up at 8:30 on Sunday was tough. I really wanted to run before church so out I went to tackle my longest run so far. The plan was 7 miles, and a few months ago this would have been the distance of a regular weekday run, but this morning it was a daunting thought. I struggled through the humidity on the first mile, then my body seemed to adjust and I settled into a nice rhythm. With 3 miles to go I was starting to worry. My body and lungs felt the way I used to feel after 20 miles, and all I could think about was how far I have to go over the next several months. I kept pushing and tried to focus on relaxing and enjoying the fact that I was outside running on such a beautiful day injury free, then before I knew it I was only 1 mile from home. The last mile was so easy, I think because I was happy with the thought of finishing my first long run back, bringing my total mileage of the week to 20!

The week was definitely a success. I think less and less about my injury each day, and I am still waiting for the day I forget about it all together. My body is responding well to the slowly increasing mileage in addition to P90X, and I am looking forward to throwing in some tempo runs soon to begin regaining my speed. Still not ready to commit to a time goal for the Richmond Marathon, but I have a hunch I'll be aiming low!

Learning to Hold Back

This was week 1 of Training for the Richmond Marathon! It is still many months away, and I am not quite to my usual 16 week count down, but I have created a schedule that I hope to follow from now until race day. This week the plan was to run 4 times, and that will continue to be the plan for another month in order to build up a solid base.  August will mark the beginning of my training period where I will not only care about the miles, but the pace of each mile in addition to track workouts, tempo runs, and marathon pace runs. For the month of July I will enjoy logging miles at whatever pace feels good (this is what I am telling myself anyways, to be completely honest it is difficult for me not to have a goal pace in mind each time I set foot out the door!). 

Monday's run was mentioned in my last post, so I'll move on to the highlights of the remainder of the week. Wednesday morning at 5:30am I was out the door to meet my running buddy Tyler. She and I began running together 2 years ago and I am so thankful to have a friend like her to run with when the timing works out. With the traveling my job requires and the recent injury I experienced, we have had trouble finding time to run together on a regular basis. When I texted her Tuesday evening to see if she would be willing to meet me before the sun was up for a measly 3 miler, I had low expectations. Now - to clarify - 3 miles is no distance to balk at and I do not mean to call that distance "measly" in a negative manner. However, when asking a friend that normally runs 6+ miles each day to get up earlier than usual for half of her regular distance, it is asking for a lot. With this in mind, when she texted back that she would love to run with me, I was absolutely thrilled. We chatted the whole way and it felt like old times, then the run was over before I knew it. I was so sweaty that you would have thought I'd run 10 miles. The idea was that getting out the door by 5:30 would eliminate some of the nasty humidity Charlotte has been been experiencing lately, but this was not the case. I am happy to report that the humidity was the only negative aspect of the run, and everything else was perfect. While worried about my leg every step of the way, it never flared up, and I hope that over time I will think about it less and less.

Thursday's run was wonderful, in that Jason and the pups (Roxie and Reese) came with me! We love exploring different parts of Charlotte, and running is a wonderful way to learn about new areas because you move much slower than you would driving around in a car and tend to notice things you would otherwise miss. The sky was looking fairly threatening but we decided to go for it and see what happened. I was shocked as we took our first few steps to find that my legs felt like lead! We have been doing P90X everyday now for 2 weeks, so I knew I would be tired, but this was tough! After a mile my body started to warm up and each step was more comfortable, by the end of the run I felt like myself again. I must brag on the dogs here because they can be hit or miss when running in the heat; Roxie and Reese were awesome the whole way! Roxie looked just as thrilled as I felt to be outside moving for the sake of moving. My leg never caused any problems, but again it was on my mind with almost every step. When the 3 mile mark came and the thunder we had been worried about started rolling in, I was happy to call it quits.

Saturday was my last day of running for the week, and I believe it was a turning point. The morning began with P90X yoga, which if you have never experienced, is extremely challenging. There is no impact in yoga, but some of the poses require strength from muscles that I did not know existed. Jason and I must look hilarious trying to pull off some of these moves, maybe next time I'll take a picture and post it. The funniest part is when Reese (our little dog) gets excited that we are on the floor at her height and thinks it is time to play. While in the pose, downward dog, Reese ran underneath me and started jumping up to my face trying to get kisses. By the time I made my way outside to run it was 1pm so I decided to drive over to booty loop and run around Myers Park for a change of scenery, also most of the loop is in the shade. Two things happened during the run that I am very excited about. The first happened at the 2.5 mile mark: I was running along, enjoying the view of the gorgeous houses on my route, when my watch beeped notifying me of the 0.5 mile split. I looked down, saw the number, and thought, "I hate seeing such slow times!" then it hit me... all I was thinking about was running slow... not my leg! I had gone an entire half mile forgetting that I was worried about an injury! The rest of the run I was able to stop fearing the impact of each step, I feel like I finally let part of my worries go. The second thing that happened was at the very end of the run. I was nearing the parking lot where my car was parked, and my watch showed 4.5 miles. I entered an internal debate between the value in pushing for another half mile to obtain 5 miles even for the day, or settling for the lesser distance knowing that I would finish feeling strong. The competitive side in me knew that doing the additional distance showed mental strength and that pushing for more in any workout helps when you are hurting on race day. Another part of me knew that the smart thing to do was to stop while I was feeling good, and not risk it. In the end, I decided that now is not the time to be competitive, now is the time to run and feel good. It was hard choosing the easier option, but I know it was the right one. Learning to hold back is difficult, but I am sure I will glad I did when I am strong and ready on race day.

Week 1 : Check! 

P90X Is Whipping Me Into Shape!

After my last post I decided that it would be best to take more time to rest and let my leg heal. Something was clearly wrong on that 5 mile run two Saturdays ago, and I have already learned the hard way to listen to my body, so I stopped. I am so glad that I did. It is hard to describe the peace that I felt during the first week of non running because it is odd to me that peace is what I felt. Normally I would be antsy from the lack of my favorite form of exercise and constantly frustrated at the site of other runners out enjoying a beautiful day. This time was different though, and I truly believe it is because that is what I was supposed to do. Not to say that I have been a bum the past two weeks, a whole new way of exercising has been introduced and I am really enjoying it.

I did not like it at first, the feeling of exhaustion in single bursts from straining against a weight instead of the constant effort required in aerobic activity. It is a strange sensation to break a sweat without breathing very hard, and took some getting used to. The Ab Ripper X session in particular keeps me happy with a grueling 15 minutes of nothing but pushing to the limit 3 days a week following each of the weight heavy workouts. It definitely fulfills my need for cardio and an even level of effort. I am embarrassed to admit how difficult I found the first Legs and Back day, as I had expected that to be my strongest area. I was sore for 3 days afterwards, so much so that I had trouble sitting and standing at work! Fortunately after the second week through each of the workouts my body is adjusting and I am not nearly as sore. The concept of a different workout pushing unique muscle groups each day is fantastic and really keeps it interesting.  I can feel strength returning to my legs and body and am very excited to see how this affects my overall fitness and speed once I am back to running full time.

Speaking of running, the Steamtown Marathon on October 9th was something I had really looked forward to for a while, but it is just too soon for me to ramp up my mileage and speed the way I would like to. Fortunately the race allows runners to waive their entry for one year if needed. This was great news, because many marathons will not provide any sort of refund or entry waiver.

The Richmond Marathon on November 12th is my new fall marathon and I began my first week of training this week. Knowing that my stress fracture was caused by increasing mileage too quickly in the winter, I will be very careful to slowly add mileage and monitor my body carefully this time around.

My first run back was this past Saturday along the Potomac River in Virginia with my good friend Nikki and her boyfriend Kyle. It was wonderful to run with friends and enjoy being outside along the water on a gorgeous summer morning. Nik and Kyle ran with me for 1.5 miles then I did another 1.5 mile loop on my own. The heat was definitely tough as we slept in past 8:30 before heading out to run, but it didn't matter, I was loving life the whole way. This felt right. Immediately I could tell that I made the right decision to rest for the past two weeks. My lungs were pleasantly in better shape than I had anticipated, which I attribute to working out every day with P90X, and my legs felt great. In addition to running over the weekend I swam 1/2 mile every day and wake skated (like wake boarding but it's just a board, there are no boots to strap on). The last day there I set out for another 3 miles and again it felt perfect to be outside running. After a full weekend of fun it was hard to believe how easy running felt, but just like Saturday the 2 loops came and went and I was done.

The next few weeks will be very telling as to whether or not I can race Richmond the way I want to, or train to simply complete the distance. I hope that I keep up the P90X as I increase my mileage, it seems like such a great concept. Only time will tell!