{"id":3349,"date":"2012-11-03T02:06:01","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T02:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/?p=3349"},"modified":"2012-11-03T02:20:24","modified_gmt":"2012-11-03T02:20:24","slug":"insecurity-dump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/03\/insecurity-dump\/","title":{"rendered":"Insecurity Dump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Wrote this up yesterday and forgot to post, so forgive the day shift.\u00a0 My brain is a little better today, but still&#8230; crazy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Oh marathon training.<\/p>\n<p>On the way home from my run today, I had a weird thought.\u00a0 Triathlon training feels like hanging out with the dudes.\u00a0 Occasionally there&#8217;s drama or a bad day but generally it&#8217;s just chill and there aren&#8217;t as many highs and lows.\u00a0 In a week, I would rarely feel down, because maybe a run sucked, but my bike was AWESOME and I had a solid swim so it was a-ok and during the rest of the time I was probably sleeping, eating, drinking or working anyway so I didn&#8217;t really have time to think much.\u00a0 Marathon training, it&#8217;s like hanging out with the cheerleader clique at the mall.\u00a0 If you have a great run, it&#8217;s like the highest high and you&#8217;re like bffs forever.\u00a0 If you have a shitty run, or feel down about your training, it&#8217;s like they&#8217;re snubbing you for no reason and calling you a slut behind your back.\u00a0 And you don&#8217;t have your biking and swimming bros to go hang out with instead.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/macromeme.com\/cat\/leave-mat.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"346\" height=\"461\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Because that doesn&#8217;t matter right now.\u00a0 The amazing-tastic trainer rides I&#8217;m doing lately mean nothing to me right now because they are not directly related to getting me closer to crossing that line in&#8230; a week and 3 days.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 That&#8217;s not helping either.<\/p>\n<p>So I figured I was going to allow myself one post of my worries and then get on with it.\u00a0 I did say I was putting my mental game in a box and saving it for race day, but I didn&#8217;t invite stupid brain back to the party.<\/p>\n<p>Worry #1: I&#8217;m not ready.\u00a0 It&#8217;s just the fear of the unknown.\u00a0 I have not covered more than 20 miles before.\u00a0 I have attempted a lot of long runs where either my head, my heart, or my body didn&#8217;t show up that day.\u00a0 I know completing a half ironman has helped my confidence and endurance, but it&#8217;s not the same animal.\u00a0 Plus, I did BONK at the end due to body issues.<\/p>\n<p>Worry #2 Not enough medium long runs.\u00a0 I did a lot of them over the summer, but this whole &#8220;not light until almost 8 am&#8221; and just some lack of motivation has had me doing a lot of shorter and 2-a-days instead of 8-12 continuous miles, and I&#8217;m worried that this will affect me.\u00a0 I know ultra runners do a lot of this type of training and they seem to get through, but still.\u00a0 Nothing about the lead up to this race could be called conventional.<\/p>\n<p>Worry #3 My mind and my body won&#8217;t work together.\u00a0 I have learned in the last month that my body can hold an 11-11:30 pace forever.\u00a0 That is it&#8217;s happy spot.\u00a0 My brain wants me more around 12:30-13.\u00a0 My body actually does not like the slowing, and my form breaks down and I start to hurt more and I slow more, and it&#8217;s this vicious cycle which will include walking (ultimate defeat) and cursing and general malaise and discontent.\u00a0 I need my brain to fight to keep going at the pace which my body is comfortable.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve picked a pretty reasonable MP, I just need to execute.<\/p>\n<p>Worry #4 The tireds.\u00a0 While my runs are actually going great, I have just been REALLY TIRED this week and all I want to do is curl up and sleep.\u00a0 This is TAPER.\u00a0 I&#8217;m supposed to feel like a caged tiger.\u00a0 I feel like a caged two-t0ed sloth.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/www.folkingmetal.com\/pickors\/high-four.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"287\" height=\"318\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Worry #5 To run with Zliten or not.\u00a0 He&#8217;s doing the half.\u00a0 I can have awesome company for 11 miles and then deal with the grievance of a running partner for the last 15.\u00a0 Or,\u00a0 I can fly solo and not have the down, but also not have the ability to just focus on running with someone for the first 11.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve been going back and forth for the last month.\u00a0\u00a0 It may be a race day call.<\/p>\n<p>Worry #6 I stopped strength training regularly in Sept and I really haven&#8217;t picked it up.\u00a0 My body has just been too dang sore to even think about squats and lunges and laziness ensued on crunches and curls.\u00a0 Hopefully this won&#8217;t screw me come M-day (and really, really, for real, I will pick it back up right after.\u00a0 Honest engine.)<\/p>\n<p>Worry #7 My fucking appetite.\u00a0 My miles may be on taper, but my stomach thinks I&#8217;m currently in peak training mode.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve been trying to mitigate the calorie damage by shoving it full of good quality food like carrots and hummus, apples, nuts, cheese, veggies, salads, etc, but I&#8217;m also eating 2.5 (small breakfast, big lunch, decent dinner) foods and some treats along the way.\u00a0 And it&#8217;s not just like I&#8217;m eating my emotions &#8211; my stomach is like &#8220;bitch, give me FOOOD&#8221; even if my head is like, &#8220;Sigh&#8230; really?\u00a0 We just ate.\u00a0 Kinda sick of eating right now.&#8221;\u00a0 My metabolism is still definitely on overdrive.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/macromeme.com\/cat\/frozen-yogurt-tall.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"235\" height=\"390\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Worry #8 Work.\u00a0 Huge deadline basically on M day.\u00a0 The week before is going to be potential stress, long hours, etc.\u00a0 Really, not ideal for the week before my race.\u00a0 I need some calmness to get my head ready and I&#8217;m afraid I won&#8217;t get it.<\/p>\n<p>I mean seriously.\u00a0 Today I have eaten a bean and cheese breakfast taco, a side of potatoes, amy&#8217;s veggie lasagna, a side salad, carrots and hummus, jerky, a fun size candy, sunflower seeds, and it&#8217;s just 5pm and OMG NEED DINNER NAOWWWWW (and it&#8217;s 2 hours + away).<\/p>\n<p>And there is even the &#8220;things I shouldn&#8217;t worry about yet&#8221; category but are&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Worry #8 My fucking appetite after the marathon and how much I should feed the stomach beast.\u00a0 It is going to be a painful process adjusting to being a normal human.\u00a0 Calorie tracking.\u00a0 No meal-snacks in the middle of the afternoon.\u00a0 I can&#8217;t think about how long it&#8217;s been since I counted a calorie, pretty much I just ate to keep myself from falling over.\u00a0 I&#8217;m scared of being normal again and I need to give myself time to adjust but not enough time that I gain a bunch of weight, but not so little that I&#8217;m still burning up calories like crazy and feel crappy all the time&#8230;. really, it would be much easier to just keep training, no? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>Worry #9 I&#8217;m not going to know what to do with myself after I stop training.\u00a0 I mean, I am looking forward to this with all my being right now, but I&#8217;m scared that after a few days I won&#8217;t know what to do with myself since it&#8217;s been since spring 2011?\u00a0 And once I get used to it, will I not want to start back up? (yeah, I know, TOTALLY RATIONAL stuff)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/macromeme.com\/cat\/made-a-poor-decision.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On top of that, I&#8217;ve been doing some deep thought about next season and goals and decisions and shit.\u00a0 What I really need to be doing is clearing my mind, relaxing, and just visualizing my perfect race like I do for triathlons and calm the fuck down.\u00a0 As they say, the hay is in the barn.\u00a0 Nothing I can do right now about my confidence (or lack theirof) in the training I did.\u00a0 All I can do is just run enough miles to keep my legs fresh but let them recover from a marathon-training month boot camp and work on getting my head on straight.<\/p>\n<p>Doing that means a lot of saying NO.\u00a0 Up through Sunday, it&#8217;s normal operations.\u00a0 Monday on, if I&#8217;m not working, running a very few miles, or eating good food &#8211; I will be legs up or sleeping.\u00a0 Minus the finishers party for the Texas Tri Series where I get to go receive my second place AG (:D) and be good and not drink or stay out late. \u00a0 I&#8217;ve already said no to 2 things that week and I imagine I&#8217;ll have to say no to more.\u00a0 But think of all the things I can say yes to in the coming weeks, with a sweet medal hanging from my kitchen cabinet, and a great story to tell.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.folkingmetal.com\/pickors\/beardog.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"220\" height=\"277\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Breathe in, breathe out.\u00a0 3 EZ miles tomorrow AM, 8 miles MP Saturday AM, 3 miles Monday, 5 miles Tuesday, 2 miles Thursday (some combo of M pace and EZ &#8211; nothing above 11s)&#8230; and that&#8217;s all she wrote.\u00a0 Now that my worries are out, I can focus on the positive and clear my head, and make sure my legs and my brain are BFFs.<\/p>\n<p>Question of the week: what&#8217;s the thing that you are most worried about right now? (Type it out, release it, let it go, and move on&#8230;.)<\/p>\n<div data-counters='1' data-style='square' data-size='regular' data-url='http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/03\/insecurity-dump\/' data-title='Insecurity Dump' class='linksalpha_container linksalpha_app_3'><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='facebook' class='linksalpha_icon_facebook'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='twitter' class='linksalpha_icon_twitter'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='googleplus' class='linksalpha_icon_googleplus'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='mail' class='linksalpha_icon_mail'><\/a><\/div><div data-position='' data-url='http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/03\/insecurity-dump\/' data-title='Insecurity Dump' class='linksalpha_container linksalpha_app_7'><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='facebook' class='linksalpha_icon_facebook'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='twitter' class='linksalpha_icon_twitter'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='googleplus' class='linksalpha_icon_googleplus'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='mail' class='linksalpha_icon_mail'><\/a><\/div><div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fcbkbttn_like \"><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/03\/insecurity-dump\/\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"standard\" show-faces='false' width=\"225px\" size=\"small\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wrote this up yesterday and forgot to post, so forgive the day shift.\u00a0 My brain is a little better today, but still&#8230; crazy. Oh marathon training. On the way home from my run today, I had a weird thought.\u00a0 Triathlon training feels like hanging out with the dudes.\u00a0 Occasionally there&#8217;s drama or a bad day [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paUhDu-S1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3349"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3349"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3355,"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3349\/revisions\/3355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}