101

Ha, de jous vous (yeah, totally wrong spelling but you get it!)  Here I am soaking my feet at the end of another long day.  Today my mom and I drove up north, but not before a good workout!  I did 7 miles today; 3 wu through tough snow, then 3x800m with 800 jog rest at tempo-ish pace (which right now is right around 7min miles for me cuz I'm slow right now and the snow is deep!)  Then, a good 45 minute weight/stretching session at the gym.  I'm already sore which shows that I do strength training...mmm...never!  until now that is.  I just finished my nightly core work/stretch/rolling out.  Life is good.

Tomorrow I work my cafe summer job up here.  Gotta get up early to run pre-work, but I get to try out my new headlamp, yay!  The massive amounts of snow should make things interesting, but I'm always up for a challenge! 

Well, I gotta go.  My cat is trying to drink my foot soak bath...ewww.  He's kind of a dog like that.  But very cute.

Peace, love, and running,
T-mart

102

Well, day one of one hundred and two was a success!  Although I was certainly tested by the weather- cold, snowy, windy on my 5 miler this morning.  Buuttt, all was made OK with the help of my brand new GARMIN 405!!! Yeah, I'm pumped enough to include three exclamation points!  My mom originally got it for my dad, but he was gracious enough to 'regift' it to me in exchange for my 205, as he figured I would be more into the technology and figuring out all the features.  Good times ahead for sure.

So, 5 snowy miles in the books, 45 minutes of strength training/stretching afterward.  Tonite I did my (what will now be) standard core/stretching/rolling for 30-40 minutes, and am now soaking my feet.  My dad is really grossed out by the fact that I am doing this at the kitchen table while eating cereal and drinking coffee.  Yeah, it does look kind of gross.  Sometimes I don't realize how random stuff I do is until I am not at my own apartment.  Sorry family.

The mileage will be kind of low for me this week, just cuz I've been non-running/cross training more than running the last 5 weeks since Philly.  It will pick up fast- count on it.  I made a huge schedule on a poster board old-school style with my milage and workouts for each day.  I'm high tech like that.

In other news, my amazing sister + bro in law got me a crock pot for Christmas.  Get phyched to see what crazy things I create with that sucker once I'm back at my apartment next week.  Should be interesting...

Tomorrow I'm headed up north.  I'm sure the snow there will make today's blizzard run feel like nothin'.

Let me just end by saying it feels SO GOOD to have started training.  I feel like I have an ambicious plan, but I'm moving forward with it.  One day at a time.

Keep it real....until tomorrow!

104 days

Merry Belated Christmas!  I am lucky in the fact that my "Chirstmas" is tomorrow because my sis and bro in law just came into town today, so tomorrow is our "Christmas morning" complete with presents in PJ's and a delicious breakfast.  I'm pretty pumped on this "Christmas Eve!"

In other (and probably more important news) there are 104 days until Boston.  Officially my training plan starts on Monday with 16 weeks of hard core running, stretching, cross training, eating, and sleeping right.  Basically training for Boston is going to be my job.  Literally I have told my family and friends that once I fullfill my committments to my two 'real jobs' (as well as be a good daughter/sister/friend) Boston is MY JOB.  I am sacrificing everything to put myself full force into this training.  It is taking first priority for 102 days as I quest for redemption in my marathoning.  I've decided that that is the direction in which I will head with the blog for the next bit. (perhaps the next 104 days!)  I'm not going to necessarily make it ALL about my training, but I do want a place to record what I am doing, how it is working, etc.  This weekend I am working on finalizing training plans, creating a strength and stretching routine for the nighttime, and composing my "wishlist" of things I still need as a runner (a few of which I am hoping to get for Christmas tomorrow!).  I love reading about the training and habits of other runners, so if you're like me, maybe you will come along on my journey with me too!  I'm pumped to put everything into the next 4 months- more than ever before.  Let the good times roll!

See ya for DAY 1 Monday!!!

Spinning my wheels

Do you ever feel this way???  Let me explain. (warning: whiny introspection ahead!)

I feel like I am spinning my wheels with life right now.  In all aspects.  I say this because I am neither going backward or forward in making progress, hense the reference to staying in one spot. 

Work:
I work two jobs that I like, but don't know if I will be in either one of them a year from now.  So I have made strides to being able to make ends meet on my own, but am just barely hanging on, and I'm not sure how long it will last.  I say 'like' because I'm still not sure what my true 'calling' is in life and I don't want to wait until I am 50 to find it.  But I don't have the money to try other paths and pursue other things.  Hense spinning my wheels.

Living:
I love where I live, my amazing apartment, being on my own.  I don't really have any desire to move out of Michigan (despite our horrible winters,) however, I have never "gone away" so how do I really know what is out there that I could be missing?  I love living in such a close proximity to my parents, but at the same time I fear that I am too reliant on them still, post-college for emotional and physical support.  I wonder about just picking up and moving across the county for a year, just to prove to myself that I could do it.  But once again, I feel like I don't have to balls or money to make that kind of decision.  Hense spinning my wheels.

Running:
I've accomplished alot in one year.  Many things that I am proud of, and mentioned in previous posts.  Boston, my first ultra, a truckload of half marathons, and 2 additional marathons.  However, I'm getting slower, there is no denying it.  I'm not sure if it's my training or my fueling or my body or what but looking at my 3:18 from a year and a half ago and my 3:41 a couple of weeks is depressing.  So although I am proud of aspects of my running, I am frustrated at myself for not getting better.  Sad.  Reevaluating, as I mentioned.  Hense spinning my wheels.

Myself:
Progress.  A work in progress I suppose.  I'm trying to learn what works for me in so many areas, trying to find balance.  But I feel like its always 2 steps forward and 2 steps back.  I do good, I do bad.  I beat myself up, I start over.  Again, and again.  I guess this one is alittle more personal so I'm not really going into details, but it's tough.  I just want everything to start clicking, falling into place.  Instead, I'm spinning my wheels.

I need to move forward, I WANT to move forward.  I'm just not always sure how.  One of my biggest things in life is living with no regrets, but I feel like I am letting time slip away which is regrettable in itself.  Maybe I'm just in a funk.  Maybe it's because I'm headed into my 23rd Michigan winter which I hate.  Maybe, maybe, maybe.  Life rolls on.  We shall see what happens...

Reevaluation

December is here already!  How did that happen?  Honestly, it is so true that time goes by faster as you get older.  Sometimes I cannot believe that I am teaching and 'molding young minds' when I still feel like a students myself!  Craziness.

December is my big month of reevaluation and getting all set up to tackle the New Year with all the pieces in place.  For me, this means getting my training in order, as well as my life- probably in that order, ha.  I'm really excited to start a 'formal' plan on December 28th (16 weeks pre-Boston) so I'm spending time formulating what that is going to look like.  I'm currently looking to do about 80 miles per week max with 3 double days each week.  I also want to do 3 swims per week and 3-4 strength training sessions.  I'm meeting with a nutritionist too to get a better idea of how to fuel all this activity because I'm sort of a random, chaotic eater who can eat fro yo and trail mix and nothing else, and I want a balanced plan to go off of.  I was thinking the other day how much I wish I could run professionally or at a high level, so I decided that even though I'm no where good enough to do that, I can still train like a pro!  This includes training, nutrition, stretching, rest, ice baths, recovery, etc.  I've never really focused on encorporating everything at once and I'm very excited to get everything up and 'running.' Ha.  For now, I'm keeping it pretty chill, training wise with one exercise session per day and keeping the milage lower.  I'm getting 'hungry' to start training hard, which is exactly the way I want to feel come December 28th! 

OK, well I'm back to work!  Happy Thursday! :) 

Philly-tastic Recap

Happy Day-after-thanksgiving everyone!

I decided/finally got around to getting my pictures uploaded from the marathon because I know you've been on pins and needles awaiting a recap.....

Anyway, my weekend began Friday by flying out to Philadelphia.  Although I had planned on going alone, my dad decided last minute to come so we flew out together.  This ended up making the weekend so much better/more fun and gave us some "bonding time."  After getting our car, we drove into Philly, checked into our hotel and went for a walk to dinner at the "Marathon Diner"- how appropriate!  We crashed soon after and slept for a glorious 10 hours.

Saturday morning, we jogged down to the Museum of Natural History and took some "Rocky" pics running up the steps- I'll spare you those.  After a sketchy oatmeal breakfast from Au Bon Pain, it was off to the expo!  The pic above is of me holding up six fingers in honor of marathon #6.  We actually had alot of fun at the expo and sightseeing and eating two shady baked potatoes from lunch at a food court.  The rest of the afternoon was spent in preparation and reading, before a customary frozen yogurt dinner and bed.

Morning came.

Banana x2 = breakfast of champions

As well as my lucky shirt that I wore with my sweet new arm warmers.

I seemed to be obsessed with the awkward thumb's up out of nervousness.

Pop and I at the start.  Super-bright jacket = sweet.

And the running began!  The first few miles were great and flew by although I could feel it not lasting.  The bottom of my foot and my knee were hurting, which I hoped would go away- no such luck.  Infact, the bottom of my foot has since bruised after the race which I didn't even know could happen.  Anyway, I was cruising hitting 7:15-7:30 miles, and feeling great.

Me, at the 10K point- yay!

However, the good times were short lived.  By 10 miles, both my foot and my knee were greatly hindering my pace which dropped significantly.  I felt my recent swine flu catching up with me and felt overall tired.  Mentally it was difficult at the halfway point to see a sign that said "Finish -->" (for the half marathoners) and another that said "14 mile <---" which I followed.  I saw my pop again at 15 miles and was seriously doubting if I could finish at that point.  I said a few choice words to him as he tried to run along side of me, mainly because I could see how slow we were going and it was frustrating.  My legs felt fresh, but the injuries were not allowing me to pick up the pace and my garmin delivered disappointing news everytime I looked at it.  With 10 miles to go, the marathon had turned into an exercise in survival.  I counted down each mile and felt mad that I couldn't enjoy the course and the experience more.  Finally, the last 2 miles came.  There was a good deal of crowd support and people using my name (from my bib) which really helped.  The finish was finally there and I crossed it in a somewhat disappointing 3:41.  I knew (and so did you if you read my long last post) that I was not likely going to PR.  However, I was hoping to better my corral for Boston and come closer to a PR.  But it was not to be and there honestly was no more I could have done that day.  I can't let myself as a runner be defined by one less-than-ideal performance.

Post-race, "boo"- me giving my pop the thumb's down sign.

Back at the hotel atleast-it-is-over thumb's up!

Post race breakfast was delicious, and time with my dad was great.  Really, it was a nice weekend overall- even when I had to work at 6am the morning after.  I am currently taking it easy this week and re-evaluating my goals for the next year or so.  December will be pretty chill for me in terms of training, but I plan on getting all the pieces in place to hit it hard starting in January for Boston.  Philly was a great experience, a good way to cap off my running year, and makes me want to work harder and smarter for the future.

More on my training plans to come......

Doubts and realizations

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile.  Mostly for myself I guess, to get it out there and on 'paper' what I am thinking.  Here's the deal:

When I embarked on my high milage summer training program on June 1st of this year, I had one goal in mind: a fall marathon PR, ie: sub 3:18.  I had just ran Boston on April 20th, followed very soon after by the Bayshore marathon on May 23rd.  I never expected a PR in Boston, and although Bayshore is a fast course, it was too soon with too little break post-Boston to PR.  I ran both marathons in 3:33 and some change.  After talking it over with a running friend/mentor of mine, I embarked on my summer program, working my butt off with double-workouts, speedwork, races, and long runs while working a 40+ hour a week summer job on my feet.  But honestly, I loved every minute of it. 

Finally, I decided upon the Philly Marathon on November 22nd, because honestly I was shut out of alot of marathons for not committing soon enough and I wanted a chance to get my feet on the ground teaching and in the working world.  I planned my fall racing and pictured myself so at my peak and ready to run on November 22nd.  Everything seemed so set and ready...back in August.

Here's where the realization comes in:

I can not do everything.

This past year has been my most intense and rewarding running year thus far.  (this is the part where I start massively trying to reassure myself that all is not lost!) I started training for Boston on December 1st, 2008 so Philly will mark almost a full year of training.  I have never taken more than 3 days in a row off after a marathon.  I trained in the dead of winter, 5am runs at 5am before my student teaching, swimming afterschool, long runs in the snow.  I completed my first Boston Marathon, then helped my friend complete her first marathon at Bayshore (atleast I'd like to think I helped!).  I have ran 6 half marathons, with a PR of 1:30:05, several 15Ks, a 10 mile race, and many 10 and 5Ks.  I completed my first Ultra Marathon, a 50K that I decided to run only an hour before the race started, winning the overall female title.  This summer, I hit 80 miles per week and took only a rest day per month.  In most local races, I place in the top three females.  I'm not saying this to brag or to 'toot-my-own-horn.'  I am saying this, because these are truths, the facts of the last year.  And with that said, I am accepting this: I probably will not PR at Philly.  And despite my competitive nature and my original goal so many months ago, I am OK with that.  I am OK because I have done so much with my running this year that this race is really a victory lap.  I am OK because I now know that it is difficult (read: impossible) to peak for a late-fall marathon while racing 1/2 marathons every weekend, taking little time off, and oh yeah, throwing in a 50K too!  Yeah, I could have blown off all the other racing and really put my heart 100% into being perfectly primed for Philly.  But, I would have missed out on what I love about the sport- the comraderie, racing, and winning.  Maybe there will be a time and a place when I take on the "one-peak race" mentality.  But, it wasn't this year, it wasn't this time.

Knowing all of this, I am ready to go to Philly with my "best foot forward."  Not necessarily as an amazing PR effort, but as a culmination of all that I have done in my running this year- a way to celebrate all of the milestones that I have hit and obsticles that I have pushed through in order to accomplish my running goals.  In running and in life, if it were only about the destination, we would never leave our front door.  Here's to the journey- and loving every step!