FEELINGS, TEMPS & NAUGHTY THOUGHTS

I just read a funny blog post from a runner, Hollie Sick, writing about the experience of running a half marathon mile by mile. http://www.halfmarathons.net/really-feels-like-run-half-marathon/ 

It's pretty funny. I thought she pretty much nailed the typical line of thought. Then I started laughing more because if you stretch that line of thought across more miles per thought/feeling and logarithmically intensify those thoughts and feelings you have a marathon...for at least a number of us non-elite runners. But for me, it's in the last 4 miles or so that I feel like I need to rip my clothes off and jump in a fresh water, cold spring!

This year (running season), in particular, I have had uncanny luck with weather and marathons. All 3 of the marathons I have run this year have been really warm. It's amazing because all the weekends surrounding the marathon weekends are cool or cold. For example, look at the weather in New Orleans this weekend coming. The marathon is on Sunday, lol.

I love the rain, love the clouds but it's the temps I'm not lovin'. I guess the warming trend will go for a few days after as well but you can see the temps going down into the following weekend, lol. But, before you go and say, "that's not hot!" You are either super fortunate to be one of the few who don't think running a marathon in those temps is hot or you have not run a marathon in those temps. Believe me, those are super uncomfortable temps especially if it gets humid! Running in humidity feels like you're wearing a sweater that you can't take off...it's really bad. If you can't evaporate, well your sweat, you can't cool down. So, if it's going to be humid, I would prefer it just flat out rain. I really enjoy running in light rain.

Well, while I'm still nervous about this weekend's marathon I think I'm destressing a little. I decided I have nothing to lose by starting with the 5 hour pace group. What am I going to lose if I have to slow way down or walk. Been there, done that! Besides, I get to sight see more of New Orleans and snap a few pics.

I will just think naughty thoughts to get me across the finish line...beignets and chicory coffee...mmmm. Hey! I figure if I run off over 3000 calories running a marathon I can have a few beignets...but then back on the wagon ;-) !

Still at 177.6. We'll see how it goes the rest of the week. 

TTFN

FIG NEWTON DILEMMA

Ok, I have a serious problem! 

I was speaking with a friend today about marathon strategy. We discussed fueling strategies before and during the run. So, I have decided I will try something she does which is to eat a protein bar about an hour before the race and, something I like to use during the run, some fig newtons about a half hour before hand.

My fueling strategy up to this point has been to eat a balanced breakfast and carry a belt with a packet of Stinger chews which I try to eat 1 per mile and another belt with some fig newtons, of which, I  eat a half fig newton every 4 miles or so. This seemed to work really well for me for the first two marathons I ever ran. But, the last 3 I ran have been so hard maybe it's time to rethink this fueling element. I may just need a new refueling technique if there have been changes in my body. My friend said she used to feel similarly to me when she hit crashes but she discovered fueling more before and during her runs helped her immensely.  So, I will shake it up a little.

During my run I think I will eat an entire fig newton at every water stop, or every other water stop...I just don't want to get full. I will monitor this for the first two water stops and may need to cut back a little if I start feeling full. I will also do chews in between.

My dilemma is that I will need to carry more fig newtons. How will I do this without a huge belt or crushing them into crumbs....hmmmmm.

I will have to think this through. I'll let ya know what I come up with, if anything.

TTFN

BREATHE

Today I feel butterflies more than anything. I feel the stress building up in me. The up-coming marathon? Yes, but maybe not for the reasons you might think. I know I'm nervous about my added weight but that's not what's digging at me the most. I'm afraid.

The last 3 marathons I ran were so hard. You may have already read all the trials and tribulations as to why in my previous posts so I won't go through that, again. But, what I haven't discussed is what happened, exactly, and how it affected me.

With each of the 3 marathons in a row I got to between 18 and 20 miles just fine then absolutely crashed! I had to walk the last 6 miles or so, for the most part. I hit the wall in a major way. I will give my self a pass on that 3rd marathon since it was 3 weeks after my second one and 2 weeks after a half marathon. But, still, nonetheless, it affected my psyche more than me physically.

Physically these crashes were one of the most painful and uncomfortable things I've ever experienced. There was no option to give up and no option to not finish via getting swept. I cannot let that happen unless I pass out or I'm injured. I have never been swept yet and I really never want to be. What's that? It is when you are not meeting the minimum required pace by a certain distance. When that happens there is a vehicle that drives behind the runners at the minimum pace. When you cannot keep up with the minimum pace it comes and picks you up and takes you to the finish line. Usually that results in no medal either because you are not a finisher.

As I said, I have never experienced that but I truly thought I was going to get swept at my last marathon as it had a 6 hour time limit and my crash hit me a little earlier than the other 2 marathons before that. I felt my energy ZAP at mile 13!!! Mile 13! I was only half way! I was in sheer panic as I thought my Marathon Maniac status was in jeopardy and I had worked so very hard at it. I knew this was the only time I would ever attempt such a crazy feat. If I were to have gotten defeated I would not have pursued it again. But I managed to run my intervals till mile 17-18. It was sooo hard!

I crossed the finish line at 6:00:20! That is the slowest marathon I have ever run. All the others were between 5:19 and 5:47. Ok, "but you did it" you say, "what's the problem?" My psyche is seriously damaged right now. I lack confidence to the nth degree. I'm so afraid of crashing, again. It is sooo hard and it hurts sooo much, physically, to complete when that happens. If you have never experienced it there is no way to explain it to you. I think it's like trying to explain what it's like to give birth to someone who never has. How can you possibly explain the experience so they really know? You can't!

So, all I can say is that my self esteem is in the toilet and I'm really getting nervous. I know I said I wanted to try for a 5 hour finish time, and I do. But that would be the icing. Honestly, I don't care about the finish time. All I want out of this is to NOT crash. That's what I truly care about deep down.

I keep telling myself, "you have run 3 marathons and 3 half marathons since Oct 30 so you are trained up for it now. Your training runs have been pretty good, too. You've had 6 weeks to let your body recover since your last marathon and 3 weeks since your last half so that shouldn't be a factor." But I can't shake the nerves...

I need to just keep the social experience of being with my friends at the forefront. It is truly as much that as anything. It wouldn't be the same without them.

Breathe...

UGH!

Well, up to178, again :-(.

I won't lie. Today's run was hard. I only ran 3.6 miles. Wanted to do 5 but that wasn't happening. My legs were tired and a little sore from the gym. My ankles are starting to feel sore too; but, I'm certain that is from the extra weight I've had on since December.

I haven't upped my mileage for this to be the cause. In fact, I've been running a little less mileage each week since my last marathon on Dec 18 to let myself have some recovery time from doing 3 marathons so close together before I run #4. So, I'm sure it's the weight.

I will take this weekend off from running. That gives me Friday and Saturday. May try on Sunday if I'm feeling better.  I will definitely do core strengthening over the weekend, though.

I've started back up with using MyFitnessPal to count my calories. This will keep me honest. I lost 13 pounds on that before. I think I fell off that wagon the third time I threw out my back. I went straight to comfort food. I was so tired of throwing my back out and feeling such intense pain I just collapsed, dietetically. That was what happened this past summer when I lost 12 weeks, collectively, of training from April to Sept due to my stupid back! Every time I got back on my feet and got my mileage back up I would yank my back somehow and be virtually paralyzed. This is why my marathons have sucked so bad this year.

Finally, I feel like my running is getting back in gear. Now, if I can get my weight to go with it all will be groovy. While I have been doing far better with the kinds of food I've been eating I've been eating too much, still. I haven't had a salad every day this week like I said I would but I have been eating a lot of soup. A few other slips have occurred but this is why I am using MyFitnessPal again.

Ok, I'll chat later. The struggle continues...

TTFN

STRONGER OR NOT?

177.4!

Down another 0.4lbs today. That's 0.8lbs over the last 2 days. I really think the strength training is already helping in a number of ways.

I did the  workout I said I would do, yesterday. Ran 2.3 miles to the gym, strength trained 45 minutes, then ran back to my car another2.3 miles. The funny thing was that the run after the gym was so much easier than the run there. This, despite the fact that I had already run 2.3 miles and worked my legs and core for 45 minutes. I thought my muscles would be dead but they were rejuvenated!

I have a hard time, at this point, believing it was a mere coincidence. Last week, after I did my hour long strength training the runs I did the rest of the week seemed to feel easier and stronger. I thought that was a weird phenomenon or something. But, maybe these strength training workouts are "waking up" my muscles from when I did a lot of strength training in the past...like a year and a half ago. I really think there is no way I'm getting noticeably stronger already after only 2 workouts in the gym. So, this is my best guess as to what I'm experiencing.

I will run tomorrow, again. I will see if it still feels stronger, still. If it does, I will feel better, in that regard, about the marathon in a week and a half. I do have a lot of butterflies in my stomach about going into this thing so much heavier than I already am normally. This is very stressful. If you're a runner and have ever put on a few lbs over a short period of time and then gone running you know how much harder it feels. It's amazing how only a couple of lbs can make such a big difference!

Well, let's keep our fingers crossed that tomorrow's weigh in will be a good one, again.

TTFN

BREAKTHROUGH

Second Monday of the week!

There's been a little bit of a breakthrough, lol! I weighed in this morning at 177.8. That's down 0.4lbs from yesterday. Finally! It's not much but I'll take it considering the stagnation I've been experiencing.

Ok, here is the chart I will use to track my weight and race times. I plugged in the last half and full marathon I ran (ok, this full is not the most recent full but the one before that. I really don't count that last full as accurate as it was the 3rd marathon I did in 48 days-my legs were SPENT! So I used the one before that.)



I need to fix my weight for the full as I think it was 175 for that one. I need ask someone who knows how to make charts way better than I do. So I expect the chart will evolve over time to accommodate different data and labels. But, for now here it is.

The times are hours and minutes. I won't bother with the seconds...unless it really matters like I broke a 5 hour marathon by 2 seconds, lol. Don't see that happening for a while!

So, today, I will actually do the workout I wanted to do last week. Run to the gym, strength train for a half hour or so then run back to my car at work. Looking forward to that. Yesterday, I decided to try a new route I hadn't used before but thought it looked like a nice run. It was only 5 miles but let me tell you what! It was really challenging. There were some hills, not mountainous, but rolling. They are seriously deceptive by car, ugh. The route was a constant up or down but never flat. So weird. I will have to remember that when I want a challenging workout day.

I maintained a 10:19 average pace. That's about a half minute or so slower from last year for that distance...sigh. But this has been a consistent pace for me for this distance this race season. I really did a disservice to myself this year as I have been going easier on myself and skipping hills and the gym. I am paying the price now. But I am turning it around and will continue to do so through the summer.

I'm debating as to whether or not to try to get into the Marine Corps Marathon(MCM), again. I know, I know, so much for no more fulls anytime soon. But as I said, I'm debating it. It would require I  train all through the summer for a full. I just can't stand that. I HATE the long runs in the hot, hot, hot summer. But I also feel ripped off about last years MCM because of losing the 12 weeks of training due to throwing my back out 3 times! That sucked. The marathon was a disaster. I flaked the lase last 6 miles and had to walk most of it. It was also so hot.


I have determined I am a running vampire. During the summer and hot weather it is so weird how I am totally fine running in the dark.

But the second the sun comes up I totally flake. My energy is zapped and I cannot go on. I mean I flake hard! But I am a totally different runner in the cool weather.

Note the wine glass in her hand...for me that's red wine, lol. But I love a good beer after a hard run, too!

In any case, it is the kind of trouble I wonder how it would change if I were thinner/lighter. maybe I'm just totally intolerant of heat. It's a great thing I live in Florida, huh?


 Ok, I'll check in tomorrow.

TTFN

TWO WEEKS AND COUNTING

It is Monday! The first Monday of the week. You read that right. See, my days of the week may be a little different than yours. Here they are: Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, lol. So, in the famous words of Mikey, "How's that?" ...If you get that you're old too, lol!

Well, I can't believe it but my weight is still the same! BUT, I have a good feeling about tomorrow as things today have been "moving along" a lot...if ya know what I mean ;-). In any case, I have to batten down the hatches now. Obviously, my efforts up to now have been ineffective. I need to raise the stakes till I see the results I want. It is soup and salad only this week! Well, plus a protein shake every other day. I have 2 weeks till my marathon.. I absolutely do not want to go into this any heavier than my previous marathons!!!

Over the weekend I got my new running skirt to go with my new running shirt. How cool is that getup? It's gonna look good in New Orleans! Even my shoes and compression sleeves will go well with it. My shoes are bright yellow and pink and my compression sleeves are bright pink. I'll post the whole thing after the run when I tell you my official marathon time for the start of my experiment I talked about in the previous post.

Well, I guess there's not a ton to talk about today. I'll be heading out for a 5 miler in a couple of hours. It's super windy and cloudy and COOL today. High of 65! Love it.

Ok, I'll check in tomorrow. Signing off!

TTFN!