13.1 Training: Live & Learn

Race day is 8 days away!  I am so giddy with excitement, I can hardly stand it!  I have had so much fun training for this race. It has taken some skin thickening to get out there and run all winter through rain, show, slush and 19 degree temps, but it has made the winter seem a little shorter and brighter than usual.  I have learned about myself, about my body, deepened friendships and made new ones.  13.1 has been on my "bucket list" for at least 4 years.  I always thought it would be one of those things I'd be lucky enough to barely complete once, I'd check it off and then move on.  But, I have found incredible love and satisfaction in long distance running.  I think it is safe to say this is not a "once and done" event.  I will be doing this again for sure.

Yesterday my running pal, Ashley, and I did our taper run.  It was my worst run ever.  Hahaha.  I'm laughing about it, so it's all good in training land!  Live and learn.


First lesson learned (or rather, confirmed):  I cannot run and hold a conversation! 

I know, I know, the "experts" say that if you're running at a comfortable pace, you're supposed to be able to hold a conversation.  If you can't hold a conversation, you need to slow your pace down.  Yada yada yada.  Blah blah blah.  Well, I can hang on and do it for a couple miles.  But at 6 miles yesterday, it caught up to me and kicked my butt!  Perhaps it's just that my endurance is not trained for running and conversing.  95% of my running is done solo (it's like spa therapy to me, don't joke) OR I'm running with LeAnne, Ashley, & other training friends, but I'm running behind with my earbuds in, while they're the ones chatting.  So, at 6 miles yesterday, I felt like I'd run a freakin full marathon!  Actually I felt like I sprinted those 6 miles!

I think I also realized that while I enjoy long distance running, it does not come naturally for me.  I have to work hard at it.  A large part of my success is the chatter in my head.  I am always talking to myself and flooding my brain with positive "just keep going, you're fine" talk.  When I'm running and conversing with a friend (which I AM good at for 3-4 miles), I'm not able to be intentional about giving myself brain-food.  This is just proof to me that a very large part of running, or any physical activity for that matter, is mental.

Second lesson learned:  8 miles is NOT a short run!

I think this is a lesson Ashley and I both learned.  So once you've been running 10, 11, 12 miles at a time, 8 sounds short.  I almost took my fuel belt and a Honey Stinger with me.  But talked myself out of it because it was a shorter run and I can't say I love wearing it.  Ashley had a PBO Smoothie for breakfast, forgoing her normal pre-long-run breakfast of toast with nut butter and banana (that's my magic breakfast, too!).  She was thinking the same thing, that because it was a shorter run, it wouldn't matter what she ate for breakfast.  I'm not sure what either of us was thinking, but 8 miles is a long run!  Ashley's smoothie was sloshing in her belly the whole time, making her feel gross.  And I super crashed and burned around the 6 mile/1 hour mark.  I struggled the last two miles.  I think I would've quit if it wasn't that my car was 2 miles away.  Ha!  I really think I needed fuel at the 45m-1hour mark, like I usually have.  I did not have my usual "runner's high", haha, and I had post-run tummy unhappiness and general flu-like symptoms.  I have not had that problem since I started fueling every 45m.  I think an empty belly on longer runs just does not work well for me.  Yet Ashley has found that eating on long runs makes her stomach upset.  That's the beauty of the process - finding out what works for you.

Third lesson learned:  I look horrible in running tights.

Ha!  Didn't just learn that.  Already knew it.  Had to throw it out there for laughs.  Running tights are not flattering on these curvy hips and skinny legs.  But gosh darnit, they've kept me warm logging 164.7 miles (so far!) since January 1!  So they're here to stay.

Friends, if you're reading this, please pray for us and our families this week; for injury-free short runs this week and health for our families!  And please pray for LeAnne, who has been nursing a heel injury for several weeks.  We have been down on our knees begging and pleading for quick healing so she can do this race with us!  My friend and physical therapist Kelley, at Total Body Rehab, has been working on her while she has been icing, stretching, massaging, resting and trying to be patient with this frustring detour.

This weeks' plan is to eat super clean & green, hydrate hydrate hydrate, do a few short runs, and keep our families healthy!

8 days & counting!
Dawn