Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Month: January 2010 Page 3 of 4

Deep and Meaningful…

…just aint workin’ for me today.  So let’s finish up this doozy of a week with a snappy little 5 Random Things Post.  Tricked ya, didn’t I?  Just WAIT until you get a load of what I’m planning for April Fools Day (guess I should let ME know because I haven’t decided yet, tee hee).  Ok, it’s not even technically Friday, and my brain is in crazyland already.  This does not bode well…

1.  I still need to experiment more with it and I’ll do a whole post soon, but OMG, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my garmin forerunner.  I never realized what I was missing but OH GOD I don’t ever want to do another outside run without it.  It always bothered me that I didn’t exactly how far and how fast I was running (some days it didn’t matter to me but I never am opposed to having a reference).  The coolest thing?  It pulls data points about once a house and shows me my pace at each one.  And I can sort of watch my performance after the fact in a graph and go – “ok, that’s where I crossed the street, that’s where the hill started, that’s where I was booking it to make up some time, etc”.  You can import it into google earth even and I could see where I ran around someone who was blocking the sidewalk.  I never REALLY wanted one before (well I did but… it’s expensive!) but it’s seriously awesome.  Today, I’m going to play around with the heartrate monitor strap for my cross training workout. EDIT:  Boo, it doesn’t do heart rate indoors well.  It took my heart rate alright, but said I burnt 18 calories.  Not quite.

1b.  For those of you accustomed to doing 10+ mile runs, do you ever feel like you’re getting ready for a trip?  Workout clothes, sunscreen (if I remember), attach runner ID to one foot, attach shoe wallet with sport beans to other, apply body glide liberally to cleavage/arms, fill and attach camelback to myself, then strap on my zune, find my running sunglasses (they’re thinner and give me less owl eyes – yes, I’m vain), and in the winter find my headband?   It’s exhausting before I even start my warmup!

2.  I’ve been on the spark again calorie tracking.  I retroactively put in Monday and am still going today.  Oddly enough, it motivated me to eat LOTS and LOTS of good for me food.  Fancy that?  Yesterday, I felt so full I was afraid I was going to lose my cookies (err…carrots I guess) later on the ‘mill.  And I came about 250 calories under my goal because I just couldn’t put another damn thing in my cakehole.  Monday was a little under 200 under goal.  2000 calories of healthy food is HARD. 1500-1700 feels about right.  Good thing today is a cross training day, so 1500 is the goal.  I’m at about 1k now after a gigantic snack (carrots/pea pods/hummus/necatrine/jerky/wheat melbas and laughing cow), and looking forward to an awesome healthy dinner.

3.  The scale, it moved yesterday!  Yeah, I probably shouldn’t be weighing every day but since I’m tracking it seems to feel right to weigh every day.  And this morning it sung to me like a songbird, 156.0.  Only 1lb to go until I can start the “I-trust-myself-at-maintenance” counter.  I’m going to predict 2 weeks of tracking and then I’ll be able to go back to fumbling my way through it without numbers.  I totally know why I’m NOT doing this for the majority of this year.  I’m learning pretty well about how to be pretty un-neurotic about my food and just do this thing naturally, but I start getting crazy when I have to be SO accountable.  Great for weight loss, bad for trying to figure out a “rest of my life” thing.

4.  The weather, while NOT beautiful today, has gone from stupid cold (for us) as in highs in the 30s and lows in the 10s, to decent, meaning highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s, to rainy today and tomorrow, but starting Saturday and extending into next week, it’s supposed to be upper 60s/70s and lows in the 40s/50s.  I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD!  I missed this weather something terrible over the last few weeks.  Don’t ever leave me again!  It should be perfect conditions for a nice long run outside this weekend, and maybe I’ll have to see if I can get in a lunch/after work run next week before the sun sets.

5.  Uhhhm, I’m kind of out of ideas now, so I’ll just say Archer on FX is pretty much hilarious.

Have a great weekend, everyone!  I’ll probably be playing some rock band, running a lot, possibly going out on the town, and hopefully enjoying outside time on Sunday.  What’s your plans?

Writing in the Future Tense

**Note – I thought this would be a clever post, but upon rereading it, it feels very weird and disjointed.  Hopefully it makes some sense to y’all.  Also, super random funny pictures because it’s late and I’m lazy. /end disclaimer**

5pm:

So, I am SUPER NERVOUS about this tempo today.  8 miles @ 8:55 pace.  This is the run for all the marbles (if by marbles you mean confidence in the sillyfast pace I picked for myself which I do).  If I can hit this pace, I am convinced I can do anything.  This is also the LONGEST run I will have to do at this fast pace.  I’ve done 6 miles twice and the first time it was tough, and the second time I barely made it.  I am trying to channel the essence of time 1 when I wasn’t shooting darts through my brain at the inventor of the FIRST program after mile 2, and realize that all I have to do is add just a bit under 18 minutes to that fairly notsohard run.

If I just remember that #1 the pace is non negotiable and #2 I am not going to remember how hard it was, just if I finished it or not and #3 I never have to run this again at this pace – I should be all golden.  I have a good playlist, and I am about 1:30 away from hitting the ‘mill, but I doubt I’m going to finish the post before then, so instead I’m going to talk to you from the future.  I bet this guy would have liked a future-gram saying PROTECT THE FAMILY JEWELS, kthx.

Hi all!  It’s about 7pm and I’ve just gotten out of the shower after my run.  I am soooooo pleased to report that I was able to get through my 8 miles and keep my pace.  I’m totally pumped now because it means I can do ANYTHING! ROAR!  I have confidence a-plenty that I will ROCK my goal pace at this half coming up.

So I went into the day prepared.  I had a super 30g protein bar for breakfast, and made sure to stay SUPER hydrated all day.  I had a nice mild lunch that I know doesn’t aggrivate my tummy (seafood salad salad w/cilantro dressing) and kept feeding my face with healthy snacks (like pistachios, carrots and hummus, and fruit) so my fuel tank would be topped off and I’d be rarin’ to go.  I had also changed up my playlist and put all my favorite songs that make me pick up the pace so I didn’t run into silence around mile 6.5.

I got to the gym and warmed up and took off.  I decided that it seemed to work best last time when I started at 6.2 and worked up to 6.7 over the first half mile, so I did that.  Once I got there, it felt fast, but comfortable, and I threw my workout towel over the numbers and spaced out, getting really into my music.  I had even remembered to bring a second towel so I could cover the screen with one and wipe my sweaty face with another.

Miles 1 and 2 were uneventful.  Mile 3 started getting a little tough, but I focused on some happy news I got today and breathed through it and made it through my first 5k feeling strong.  I just kept repeating 5 miles to go.  You can do anything for 5 miles.  Look at how STRONG you look.  How STRONG you feel.  You are such a STRONG runner lately, how awesome is that?  Mile 4 – 5 seemed to go quicker, but 6 kinda dragged.  I was starting to feel it – this SHOULD be the end where I do my final sprint to the finish line, but I still had more to go.

I dug deep and reminded myself that this was the most important run before my marathon.  That if I can do this, I can do anything.  That though it was tough, I didn’t NEED to slow down, I just WANTED to.  That I would only remember if I did or didn’t do it, that there was no room for “I tried”.  That this was my longest tempo run I have to do.  That I have 2 days off running starting the moment the treaddy ticks to 8.0 miles.  These thoughts got me through the first half of mile 7, and then a really kickin’ song came on and I got buoyed up by that and barely noticed when I was onto mile 8.

When .5 miles to go hit and it was time to kick – my legs were barely my own, but my fingers were still within my control so I hit the speed increase every tenth and finished up the run at an 8:57 pace.

As Miz likes to say, I am my own superhero today.  Almost as super as Fire Breathing Al Gore.

After the gym, I shall come back and share how things really went in superfun strikeout text.

…ok back from the gym.  Here we go:

Hi all!  It’s about  7 9pm and I’ve just gotten out of the shower after my run finished my run, eaten dinner, had a beer, and am snugged up watching sci fi.  I am soooooo pleased to report that I was able to get through my 8 miles and *almost* keep my pace.  I’m totally pumped now because it still means I can do ANYTHING! ROAR!  I have confidence a-plenty that I will ROCK my goal pace at this half coming up.

So I went into the day prepared.  I had a super 30g protein bar for breakfast, and made sure to stay SUPER hydrated all day.  I had a nice mild lunch that I know doesn’t aggrivate my tummy (seafood salad salad w/cilantro dressing) and kept feeding my face with healthy snacks (like pistachios, carrots and hummus, and fruit) so my fuel tank would be topped off and I’d be rarin’ to go.  I had also changed up my playlist and put all my favorite songs that make me pick up the pace so I didn’t run into silence around mile 6.5.

I got to the gym and warmed up and took off.  I decided that it seemed to work best last time when I started at 6.2 and worked up to 6.7 over the first half mile, so I did that.  Once I got there, it felt fast, but comfortable, and I threw my workout towel over the numbers and spaced out, getting really into my music.  I had even remembered to bring a second towel so I could cover the screen with one and wipe my sweaty face with another.

Miles 1 and 2 were uneventful.  Mile 3 started getting a little tough, but I focused on some happy news I got today and breathed through it and made it through my first 5k feeling strong.  I just kept repeating 5 miles to go.  You can do anything for 5 miles.  Look at how STRONG you look (didn’t have a mirror spot).  How STRONG you feel.  You are such a STRONG runner lately, how awesome is that?  Mile 4 – 5 seemed to go quicker just about as painfully, but 6 kinda dragged.  I was starting to feel it – this SHOULD be the end where I do my final sprint to the finish line, but I still had more to go.

I dug deep and reminded myself that this was the most important run before my marathon.  That if I can do this, I can do anything.  That though it was tough, I didn’t NEED to slow down, I just WANTED to That I actually physically needed to slow down a little for just a little bit if I was going to make it through. That I would only remember if I did or didn’t do it, that there was no room for “I tried” That a strong finish was more important than pooping out at 7 miles.  That this was my longest tempo run I have to do. That I have 2 days off running starting the moment the treaddy ticks to 8.0 miles.  I took a tenth of a mile at 6.0 at the beginning of mile 6, and because I had to stop to reset the treadmill after 60 minutes, I slowed a tenth of a mile before and after stopping as to not shock myself into a stop from a breakneck pace. These thoughts got me through the first half of mile 7, and then a really kickin’ song came on and I got buoyed up by that and barely definitely noticed when I was onto mile 8.

I tried to start the kick at 1 mile to go to make up some time, but I had to slow down again because I felt physically spent, however… When .5 miles to go hit and it was time to kick – my legs were barely my own, but my fingers were still within my control so I hit the speed increase every tenth and then every 5 hundreths the last quarter mile and finished up the run at an 8:57 9:07 pace.

As Miz likes to say, I am still my own superhero today.

…no explanation for this one.  It just made me LOL.

Analysis:

So honestly, I’m going to give myself a B+.  Sure, I didn’t hit my pace.  Sure, I had to slow down.  Sure, it sucks BALLS that I was just 10 seconds per mile off my goal pace.  But – I was only 10 second per mile off my goal pace!  I felt pretty strong at the end of it.  I found that 8 miles was just a little too far today to keep one OMG CRAZY pace, but I did learn that it is way doable with a few slowdowns for recovery.  And if I can add 5 miles and stick pretty close to the pace I kept tonight, I will still beat my goal.  And… I firmly believe I run stronger outside, so I have that going for me.

Now, it’s up to me to keep training strong.  Somehow I had lead myself to believe in my sillybrain that if I did this run perfect, everything else would fall into place.  I didn’t do this run perfect, but I did good enough.  And that will just have to be good enough for my confidence.  I get another chance to rock it Saturday with an 11 mile run @ 9:40 minute miles, and then another 2 hard weeks of training to prove myself to myself before the taper.  Wish me luck!

Fluffy Fashion – Or The Post In Which I Offend Your Clothing Taste

So the weight verdict?  159.2.  Yeah.  So not cool at all.  I am back to tracking my calories in and out as such and weighing daily until I reach under 155.  I haven’t decided how many days I’m going to make myself weigh under 155 before I go back to normal life, but at least a few.  Honestly, I feel like my calorie allotments are WAY too high but I know the math makes sense for the training I’m doing.  Which is why I stopped tracking in the first place – 2000 calories feels like a fail/splurge but damned if my body doesn’t need it days I’m running hard.  I actually underate yesterday @ 1800 calories since it was a running day.

So we shall see.  I’ll report in soon and let you all know how my little experiment is going.  However, it’s almost hump day, so I think it’s time for a little fluff up in here, yeah?

And by fluff, I’m talking about fashion.  First, a PSA and a plea to everyone out there who has lost some weight or doesn’t have anything that fits them properly: GO SHOPPING.  This weekend.  Or right now.  There is nothing that makes you feel more fabulous than a few properly fitting outfits.  Get thee to a thrift store.  Over the last 3 years, I’ve had to pretty much get a whole new wardrobe each season, and I was able to do so for about 100 bucks by hitting up Savers, which gives you 20% off your purchase if you bring a donation.  Thrift store clothes on a discount.  This makes me a happy girl.

If that’s still out of your price range, at least pick up a few pairs of jeans that are the proper size and fit, a few shirts that make you feel fabulous, and a dress/skirt/dress outfit that befits a night out on the town.  If you have a dress code at work (I’m lucky as our only rule is really show up with your naughty bits covered), pick up a few work-appropriate outfits as well.  If you’re sad that no one has noticed your progress thus far, it’s probably because you’re wearing clothes that make you look bigger… they will after this!

So, you have no idea WHAT to purchase?  Well, let me help you with my opinions.  I may be getting old, but there is a lot of CRAP out there fashion-wise lately.  Here is my completely judgmental, skewed, and biased view of some of the things we call fashion today.

Things I LOVE:

1.  The sweater/knee skirt/tights/boots look.

This is seriously one of my favorite new fashions in a while.  I’ve seen it on curvy girls, skinny girls, topheavy girls, bottom heavy girls, and it just looks fantastic.  Polished, sophisticated, put together, but also fun and spunky.  Which leads to the next…

2.  Colored tights/patterned tights

Seriously so much fun.  I haven’t gotten into this as much as I’d like to as I have lots of patterned skirts and not that many plain (minus two minis that are not really office appropriate), and just don’t quite have the hang of pattern mixing.  But I have a great pair of zebra stripey ones that go well with my black dress(es) and the green and white stripey ones were fun for x-mas.  I have argyle ones and silver sparklies too but I haven’t worn them in a while.  DO WANT a nice pair of red, blue, and brown to go with my nude and black ones – but haven’t obtained yet.

Things I am learning to like:

1.  Skinny jeans (mostly as a vehicle for boots/heels)

Now, for the longest time I poo poo’d these, saying I wore them once, and I won’t wear them again and bought the biggest bellbottoms I could.  However, I’ve come to terms that treated properly, skinny jeans can be HAWT.  Like throw a pair of boots on top.  I tried to do this with a pair of my almost not-boot cut jeans and it didn’t work.  I need the real deal.  I’m thinking they could totally be amazing with heels too (which I have and don’t wear because I don’t have any pants that don’t eat them).  So, I ask the ladies out there – have you tried on these?  Did I just have x-mas bloat or do they run about 2 sizes smaller than normal jeans?

2.  Long sweaters:

Now, I also knocked these for the longest time, and then Zliten actually picked one up for me when he was out shopping.  I love it.  Somehow, it fits perfectly (which is a miracle) and is great for those days where I want something just super comfy and would rather be at home in my blanket, but don’t want to look like a complete ragamuffin in a sweatshirt.  It actually looks fairly cute and put together with a pair of not-super-wide leg jeans, boots, and a patterned scarf and you can almost pretend you’re in PJs!

Things I still hate:

1.  Non-maternity pregnant lady shirts

You would think that this might hide a little extra belly, right?  In most cases, OH SO WRONG.  The ONLY time I ever see these actually look good one people are fairly skinny gals with a little pooch.  If you have big shoulders and/or boobs, this will just make you look bigger.  If you have more than a little belly, this will NOT hide it.  If you are toned in the middle then HOLY GOD WHY ARE YOU WEARING A PSEUDO MATERNITY SHIRT? *deepbreath*

2.  Super long shirts

This is pretty much a dress I wore dancing in 1997 – oh, you mean it’s a shirt?  But it pretty much covers my ass!  I don’t know what is up with the whole shirt dress thing but I hate it.  Me = short torso.  Any shirts that go much beyond my hip bones look horrible with jeans.  I mean perhaps it’s because I’m not wearing super low rise jeans (see below), but I much prefer the actual dress-over-jeans look (and I’m not a fan, honestly) than fake-dress-over-jeans.   Maaaaaybe this is that one exception where leggings might work, but still, again, not a fan.

I think this may be my worst fashion pet peeve.  I can’t order t-shirts online because you never know how long they are going to be. and I can rarely find flattering ones even in stores (thank you, thrift stores….).

3.  Shirts that poof out on your stomach and then get tight on your hips:

I’ve been caught by these before.  This one isn’t particularly cute, but I’ve tried on some that are.  I like the gypsy sleeves and the hippie dippie look, and from the front it’s cute, right?  Well turn sideways and even if you don’t have a pooch, this shirt gives it to you.  And really, in what world is shirt-stretched-over-jeans-tightly cute and flattering for anyone?

4.  Super low rise jeans

Again, these look great on really skinny chicks with no belly fat.  On the rest of us NOT prominently displaying our hipbones, that natural little bit of bump below our belly button gets squished in the middle and looks ackward.  And honestly, no matter how cute you are, no one wants to see your ass crack.  Paired with the super long t-shirt you get rid of the risk of exposing yourself, but your belly just gets shoved out and even fairly small/fit girls look like they’re rockin’ the beer gut.

5.  Leggings

I wore them once (actually I LIVED in them in the 80s), I don’t plan to wear them again.  Whereas I can get on the skinny jeans train, I just don’t like them with heels.  It’s like wearing a super fancy skirt  and heels with an ironic t-shirt.  Sorry, try again.  I can see maaaaaybe wearing them with the long sweater with boots on top, but it’s almost a little too “pajama” for me.

6.  80’s sunglasses

Kayne, Im’a let you finish, but I think…well, wait, no YOU have the worst sunglasses of all time.  Go ahead, continue on.

That being said – don’t get offended.  I have a girlfriend that rocks the long shirts and they look GREAT on her.  Another one that almost exclusively wears leggings for a night out on the town and is tres fashionable.   It’s all about making it work for you.  But seriously, get thee out shopping.  Unless your closet is as full as mine, and if you can get away, go shopping anyway.  Zliten, you totally did NOT hear that. ::grin::

The Dreaded Weigh In

So, we’re all about honesty here.  We being me and my other three personalities, I suppose, but I digress.

Full Disclosure #1 – I am writing this the day before, so I honestly have no idea what I weight.  All I know is I weighed in on Tuesday at 157.8 and again on Friday, at 157.8.  So I do not have high hopes for tomorrow.

Full Disclosure #2 – I had to squash some weird urges this weekend.  I didn’t have the mindset of “I am going to be really really good so I don’t have to count calories and go back to that”, I caught myself thinking “Might as well enjoy myself before I go back to counting calories”.  Bad, bad, bad.  Chalk another one up to my *notarolemodel* list.

Full Disclosure #3 – I am currently wearing knee length men’s black socks because they are warm.  What, just said complete honesty, didn’t specify fitness related stuff, right?

So the great maintaining endeavor is not going so well.  That last week of holiday just kicked me in the hiney.  Literally.  Being able to barely move + eating crap = big jump in the scale.  And I’m ok with that.  Not happy, but ok.  There are a few times per year when I think it’s a good thing to just let go a little.  Just like I need a few vacations a year, I also need a few times per year where I can have a plate full of deserts at the buffet.  Or *shock-n-awe* eat sugar on the same day I also have some drinks.

The difference is I usually move A LOT on vacations.  Vegas x 2 and NOLA, we walked at least 5 miles a day.  At home, I couch planted and barely got up.  And I was a lot more dedicated to the efforts of being really good after vacations away than home vacations.  Since I really wasn’t coming *back* from anywhere, it wasn’t as different.  And the not-as-healthy stuff was also in the HOUSE, not some faraway land.  So while I certainly haven’t been a little devil last week, I *have* had some sweets.  I have kinda been liberal with the handfuls of pretzels. I am not eating as cleanly as I had come to before the end of December.

I did an oops and forgot to eat much on Saturday after my 10 mile run and then ate about 2/3 of the calories I burnt back with crappy pizza because it was there (instead of the burger I REALLY WANTED) and the rest of it with rum.  Yeah, I felt GREAT the next day, let me tell you.  In which I got myself the burger I wanted the night before for lunch.  I had a nice veggie-ful dinner but the damage had already been done.  I mean, I know I have some leeway when my runs burn upwards of 1300 calories but really?  Cardboard pizza?  I know that it was due to plans that fell through (we were supposed to go out to get said yummy burger with friends) but I should have been a little more sensible and had a healthy snack so I didn’t go so hog wild on the ‘za.  Even today, I felt the effects of the weekend – I didn’t feel like myself on the run and just couldn’t quite keep up the pace.

So, besides airing my dirty laundry, I guess, I’m just giving fair warning.  YES, I had said I was no longer going to count calories, restrict calories, log my exercise, or worry about my weight.  However, that was also contingent on staying under 155.  Which I have a funny feeling is not going to happen.  So, unless magic happens, tomorrow, I return to the world of weight loss for a very short, temporary time.

My plan is:

-1500 calories non-running days

-up to 2000 calories running days (since this week, I’m burning between 875-1000 on my short runs)

-up to 2500 calories long run days (since I’ll be at about 1400 burnt on my 11 miler)

-ONE sweet treat per day that fits into my calorie count (A hershey kiss or A truffle).

-on high calorie days (on all days but especially when I eat more), do my best to become a trash compactor for veggies/fruit and lean protein and good fat.  Like pre-workout today, where I consume d mass amounts of fruit to natural sugar-power my workout.

I mean, I can’t think of much else to do.  If I was not training I would go all kung fu on calorie count until the weight comes off but I learned very well last time that not feeding your body enough and running long distances does nothing but send you to the fridge to consume handfuls of chocolate chips.  So I might as well invest in myself and eat the right things instead of being forced to the fridge to eat the quickest thing because your body has to have SOMETHING.

And the silly thing is… I might step on the scale tomorrow and have it read 153.  And I’ll have postulated and whined for nothing.

I do think, if nothing else, it will be a good exercise for me.  I haven’t tracked my calories in and out since… sometime in the fall.  October? November?  I haven’t had to bite it and write it since then.  Maybe there is non-obvious room for improvement I’ll find.  Oddly enough, I’m almost looking FORWARD to tracking my food for a week.  Numbers, numbers, wheeee!

The one thing I will say is that I am NOT dropping below the calorie counts above even if I don’t lose weight.  I’m working with right around 1200-ish useable calories (a little less) after workout burn which is 800 under my maintenance level (supposedly I can sit on my ass and eat 2000 calories and not gain – but this so does NOT work for me), so it should be about the minimum I can safely do.  After the race I will re-evaluate, but running is #1 priority here.  Not making myself weak and frail and skating the thin line between starvation and injury is most important.  I’m pretty sure there is a way to do that and get the holiday bloat off, right?  I mean most people run TO lose weight, heh.

I will let you know tomorrow how the weigh in goes, or you can be my friend on the Twitter or the Book of Face as I’ll probably whine about it there earlier.  How’s the scale treating you lately?  Is it all sunshine and hugs?  Have you sent it to the corner for punishment?  How do you make sure your waistline stays in check?

Second Half Marathon Training: Week 8

I try to refrain from prolific cussing here, but it must be said.  Holy fuck, my half marathon is a month from Saturday.  Last year during this week I was just saying to myself, “just hang on a few more weeks and you get to taper”.  I was exhausted.  This half, I barely feel like I’ve been training.  Sure, I’ve missed 3 training runs, but that’s not much.  I definitely have some tough stuff to go, but beyond the silly injuries, I am overwhelmed at how STRONG I feel.

What’s turning my crank the right way?

1.  The FIRST program.  Running hard 3 days a week just works for me.  It might have done me good the first time to really get some road time in to get used to it, but now this is really helping me train SMART and HARD.  During the spring, I loved the nice fa-la-la happy fun scenery runs outside, but now my choice is treadmill or freezypop weather.  I want to get it in get it on (all night long – or not, hehe) and get it DONE.  My running time is right around 3-4 hours per week and I’ve never felt stronger or faster.   I’m so happy I decided to make the jump and try it for my half, I will SO be following this program for my marathon.

2.  Body fuel.  I’m eating a lot more and cleaner than I used to, though there was definitely a pizza incident Saturday night after my run.  Instead of sticking with my sillypants cutting calorie regiment and then binging on buffets and handfuls of chocolate chips when my body is about to break down, I’m eating good food until my body tells me I’m full.  For the most part.  I am paying a price for it.  I’m carrying about 5 more lbs than I was last time.  I don’t think I look quite as fit as I did this time in the training (though I could be wrong).  But I have knocked off 1-2 mins per mile on my mid-distance runs.  That right there is worth it.

3.  Pace goals.  Even though the treadmill is booooring compared to my happy fun little running route, it does help me learn how to run at one pace/a certain pace.  Though I did finally get to to my inaugural run with the garmin (I named it Gypsy) and it is AMAZING to be able to have constant feedback on my pace.  But it’s different than being dragged along by a conveyor belt – which is honestly good for me sometimes.  Having a pace goal determined by my race goal means I’m training just as hard as I need to be (not too hard or hard enough).  Last time I was doing 2 runs per week where I could go as slow as I wanted, 1 tempo run (which honestly, I rarely did a REAL tempo and at max it was 35 minutes – in comparison I have done 4 tempos so far that have been longer and faster), and 1 sprint day (where I didn’t really have a specific pace goal, just *faster* for 400 meters).

4.  Working my brain too.  Not that I didn’t do this last time, but I am really testing my mettle with some of these paces and lengths.  I’m starting to learn what I can really put myself through and still come out smiling and happy after.  Last week’s 6 mile tempo was SO HARD.  I can’t remember a time where I felt like I ran harder.  Maaaaybe the last mile of my half, but honestly, it would be a toss up.  I wanted to quit so so so so so so so many times but I kept doing the injury check and it wasn’t there, it was just wah and general discomfort, so I made it non-negotiable.  I don’t even know if I was in full control of my legs by the end, but I was of my fingers.  So I just upped the speed like I needed to and somehow I didn’t die.

One big realization:  I’m not going to remember how I felt during the tough run.  I’m convinced that good runners need short memories.  I’m not going to remember that the gym smelled like burnt hotdogs and chlorine (I had a few miles to pinpoint the specific aroma).  Or that I had the wrong water bottle.  Or that I accidentally pulled the emergency stop reaching for my towel and had to restart, and it was long enough my legs got stiff and hurt the rest of the run.  Or that I had a major stitch in my side for about the last 4 miles.  That special hell is reserved during running times only (thank you, short memory).   I’m only going to remember if I did what I set out to do or not.   And screw you, problems working against me, I did it anyway.

The rose colored glasses come on later and I remember “Oh, it wasn’t THAT bad, sure I can add 2 miles next week and not drop my pace, I can do anything for 18 minutes, whatevs.”  And then I go back into that special hell that’s an 8 mile tempo 20 second faster than race pace, and somehow, I will conquer.

I think last week and this week are the most pivotal runs of the program.  For my confidence.  Last week’s second 6 mile tempo made me realize that the pace on the first one wasn’t a fluke.  If I can do it twice, I can do it anytime I want.  Last week’s 10 mile run showed me that I can break into double digits and still keep a wicked pace.  This week, I have that scaryscary 8 mile tempo.  I’m of the opinion if I can tough it out through that, somehow, I can do anything.  Then, I’ve got another double digit (11 miles) to reinforce my confidence that I can keep my pace at long distances.

Honestly, from there it’s all gravy.  If I can complete this next week at the required paces, I can honestly feel confident that I can do a sub 2-hour half even if the rest of my training somehow goes to shite.  I will even put that out there now, feel free to remind me of that if it happens.

By the numbers:

Monday: 6×400 sprints @ 1:58 pace (with the requisite 1 mile warm up, 1 mile cool down, and 400 recovery in the middle) – check.

Tuesday: DDR circuits – check.

Wednesday: 6 mile tempo (tempted to make up the 8 mile tempo but I think I’ll refrain) – check.

Thursday: DDR circuits – check.

Friday: off – check (yay)!

Saturday: 10 mile run @ 9:40 pace – mostly check.  I ended up at a 9:47 pace, but considering my path had a mile long hill I wasn’t expecting, I am so not complaining.

Sunday: off

One more week with the goal simply to rock the paces as planned.  Here is the plan:

Monday: 4x 1600 sprints @ 8:25 pace (with the requisite 1 mile warm up, 1 mile cool down, and 400 recovery in the middle)

Tuesday: DDR circuits

Wednesday: 8 mile tempo (*eek*)

Thursday: DDR circuits

Friday: off

Saturday: 11 mile run

Sunday: off

This is a really tough week, adding another mile to Monday’s run, the epic tempo, and then another double digit run this weekend.  I just gotta approach this week with the confident swagger it deserves, stare it in the eyes, grab it by the balls, and tell it how much it doesn’t intimidate me and it better watch out because I’m gonna kick it’s butt.  Wish me luck!

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