Race Week Craziness

September 17, 2012 by 11 Comments

I have a confession to make….

I do not enjoy the final week leading up to a race!

My mind and body play terrible tricks on me and I find I spend the week working to keep my anxiety level in check.

I’m happy to say I had a good solid long run on Saturday. I got to run the first 3 miles with my friend E who will be joining me at ZOOMA then we split up at her turnaround and I headed off to get 7 more. My legs felt pretty good and I didn’t even mind getting caught in a crazy flash downpour that lasted about a half hour. It was a good way to end what had been a pretty good week of training. From there I was off to enjoy a fun weekend with J, the boys and friends.

All should be good right?
Wrong….all the sudden I’m discovering all kinds of mystery tweaks and aches, my mind is in hyper-drive (which is messing with my sleep) and I’m definitely a little edgy this morning. I’ve already had dreams that I missed the start of the race or, worse that my left leg refuses to let me run at all.

Crazy I know….irrational I know….welcome to my world leading up to a race 🙂

You’d think with this being half marathon #5 that I’d have all of this under control, but I find it’s getting worse with each race, not better. Maybe because my expectations are higher…I’m passed the point of just wanting to finish with a smile on my face. (And, this isn’t even my “A race” for the fall, so can you imagine what I will be like in November?!)

So first of all, please tell me I’m not alone in my craziness? And, how do you keep yourself both relaxed and focused during race week?

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Filed Under: race week, taper time, ZOOMA Cape Cod

Friday Five

September 14, 2012 by 9 Comments

1)  Made it through this week’s hill work without any angry outbursts from the left ITB! My schedule has been crazy this week so I ended up swapping Wednesday & Thursday’s runs so I did my hill work on Wednesday. It was a solid workout and the ITB behaved…what more could you ask for?

2) Thursday’s recovery run didn’t happen. I could feel my left wasn’t going to cooperate even before I got out of bad, so I put my ego in check and skipped the run. I’m trying to be smart about this!

3) “Yikes!” is never a comment you want to hear from a massage therapist when she feels how tight your ITB is 🙂 She beat the tar out of  intensely worked on my legs then sent me home for an epsom salt soak. My schedule didn’t allow for the time for a soak, but I will do one after Saturday’s long run. I did get to my “Yoga for Runners” class and after that 2 hr session I can say my legs were officially junk!

4)  My boys have been back in school now for a week and a half and the family calendar is a ridiculous sea of colors and I’m desperately trying to carve out white space! How did we get so crazy so quickly!?!

5) Just 8 days until the ZOOMA Half Marathon – Let the weather watch begin 🙂 I’ve got my last long run tomorrow to use as my dress rehearsal for clothes, shoes and fueling decisions. Hopefully the ITB will continue to be quiet!

What Have you got lined up for this weekend?
 
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Filed Under: crazy week, Friday Five, ITB, ZOOMA Cape Cod

The knee watch continues

September 11, 2012 by 7 Comments

After a forced hiatus for most of last week, Coach Bennett gave me the green light to try 8 miles on Saturday. But he was very clear, if the knee/IT was causing any pain I was to shut it down, call J and have him come pick me up!

My friend E had 8 scheduled too – it was her second time going that far, so we decided to run together. I knew this way I would not be tempted to do anything but take it nice and easy. I did pick a route with a couple of rolling hills because I did want to see how my legs would feel on the downhills. I’m happy to say that for the most part it was an uneventful run. E & I ran and chatted and took a couple of walk breaks along the way. For the most part I didn’t feel my knee/ITB until about 5 miles in…and even then it wasn’t much.

It seems like the rest and focus on strength training helped. Bennett’s given me the go to continue with the training plan this week – keeping in mind that if the pain returns, the running must stop. I ran 7 yesterday with mixed results. My ITB was really tight and I had a hard time holding my target pace. But there was no real pain, so I’ll take that as a small victory.

I’ve got 5 more on Wednesday and Thursday’s hill work before my last double digit run on Saturday. In between runs, I plan to foam roll, ice and strength train like it’s my job 🙂 Thankfully I’ve got a massage scheduled later this week and my “yoga for runners” class is back! So fingers crossed, the knee watch continues…
 

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Filed Under: half marathon training, ITB, left knee

Resisting the urge to run

September 6, 2012 by 15 Comments

Towards the end of my long run on Saturday, I tweaked my left knee. I was on my last down hill when I must have landed funny on my left foot because I felt a zinging sensation on the front outer part of my knee that radiated up my ITB — pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I walked for a minute and it seemed to subside so I went on to finish the run (I only had just over 2 miles left). After the run I iced my knee and then went on to join the family for more vacation fun. On Sunday we did a little hiking, nothing strenuous, but I didn’t feel any soreness until towards the end of the day…so more icing.

After a 7 hour car ride Monday, I was stiff and tight and really looking forward to my run on Tuesday. Unfortunately, my knee was not! Within the first half mile I was uncomfortable and by the time I reached 3 miles I was starting to worry that I was just aggravating the situation so I cut the run short for more icing and rest. I got in touch with Coach Bennett to get some advice on whether to attempt my easy run on Wednesday. Given that the soreness is persisting, his advice was to not run again until my next long run Saturday. With just two and a half weeks until ZOOMA, he told me that I’ll benefit more from additional rest than running hills today.

So despite that fact that I’m itching to run, I’m heeding his advice, taking the extra rest and focusing on the strengthening exercises he’s given me so this doesn’t turn into a full-blown injury. Fingers crossed for Saturday!

 

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Filed Under: half marathon training, left knee, listening to your body, ZOOMA Cape Cod

August Rewind

September 1, 2012 by 6 Comments
I blinked and August was gone…..
Good things for the month:
  • 98 miles – a new monthly high!
  • Completed all the workouts on my training plan.
  • Added a new pair of Saucony Mirage 2s and Kinvara 3s — have I mentioned how much I love  Saucony!!
  • Lots of birthday celebrations around my house; great days at the beach, and all around, lots of family fun!
Things I could do without:
  • Happy to say…no complaints…if I could make time slow down a little, that would be my only wish.

What’s up for September:

  • Returning to the schedule of school and fall sports commitments.
  • “Yoga for Runners” class returns!!
  • ZOOMA Cape Cod Half Marathon – as you can imagine, I’m really looking forward to this race – should be a great weekend! I’m still figuring out my goals for this race, but more on that later.
  • As much as I hate to say goodbye to summer, I’m so looking forward to fall temps 🙂
  How did your summer wrap-up?
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Filed Under: end of summer, month in review

Thursday Thoughts: Vacation Edition

August 30, 2012 by 10 Comments

We arrived in beautiful Canandaigua Lake yesterday – visiting J’s family and enjoying the last hurrah of summer before the madness of school and sports schedules take over once again.

I woke up to this beautiful view this morning…seriously my little camera cannot do this justice!

Then I went out and ran this! I don’t think this picture does this hill justice either….


Despite being on vacation, Thursdays still means it’s hill repeat day and lucky for me (did I really just say lucky?), there are no shortage of hills in the Finger Lakes region. The real trick was finding one that wasn’t going to completely shread my quads 🙂

Got the run done, the boys have already dragged me out on to the tennis court and now they’re begging to go swimming. I think they’re on a mission to see how much we can cram into the first day! I cannot blame them – summer feels like it’s gone by much too fast. Need to make the most of every last day. And, besides, I’m quite sure there will be a cold beer or two waiting for me at the end of the day!

 

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Filed Under: end of summer, hills, vacation

Monday Monday

August 27, 2012 by 14 Comments
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I love getting in an early morning run on a Monday – love the feeling of accomplishment and it’s not even 8:30 yet! Sets a good tone for the week ahead.

After a rough night of sleep (I have bouts of insomnia), that 5:15 alarm sounded like nails on a blackboard so I asked J to hit the Snooze twice for 20 more minutes — yes the alarm clock is on his side of the bed…I’m not a morning person and despite my preference for morning runs, if the clock were on my side the Snooze button and I would be BFFs. 20 minutes later I was greeted with some rap/pop number (note to self – check the radio station on the alarm clock) and while I wasn’t feeling any peppier I did get up this time, stumbled over the dog and made my way down to the kitchen. As I mentioned before, I’m searching for the right pre-run meal so there was a moment of indecision as I debated whether I would even bother eating. But since I was hoping to get 7 in, I leaned towards eating something and settled on a Honey Stringer, and planned to carry a GU with me just in case.

I got my act together and got out the door and was a half mile into the run when I realized I’d left my handheld and GU sitting on the kitchen counter….oh well, just keep going. I swear every morning should be like this morning….temps in the high 50s, a slight breeze, sun just breaking through and no humidity – perfect! After 28 miles last week (most I’ve ever done), I wasn’t sure how my legs would do – but they felt surprisingly good. Soon I was back home, 7.5 miles done and a negative split on the back half – a good start to the day and week 9 of the training plan!

Now I’m off to rally the kids – we’re taking off for a few days on Wednesday (sqeezing in a mini vacation before school starts next week) and of course there a bunch of errands to do before we leave.

Happy Monday!

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Filed Under: early morning runs, Monday Motivation

Thursday Thoughts: More hills, Mocktails and Pre-Run Food

August 23, 2012 by 7 Comments

It’s Thursday so its week 2 of my new hill workouts. I got some quizzical looks from a couple of people putting out their trash this morning as I barreled up and down their street. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was running the hill over and over that got them, or all the muttering and cursing that went with it 😉

4 weeks till ZOOMA Cape Cod and the excitement is building! ZOOMA just announced that they will be hosting a Mocktail Hour the night before the race for all you ladies who are running and their “fan clubs!” The event is sponsored by Hint, and will be a great time to hang out with friends, meet other runners and special guest Finessista. Be sure to RSVP on the ZOOMA blog.

Of late I’ve been finding that my tried and true pre-run breakfast of a multigrain English muffin with almond butter has not been sitting well with me lately on my runs – especially the long runs. So I’m going to try to play with some other options and see if I can find the right combination before my fall races.

Do you find you have to change up your pre-run meal? What’s your favorite go to food before a run?

 

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Filed Under: 3 things, fueling a run, ZOOMA Cape Cod

Rest days are vital

August 20, 2012 by 18 Comments

When focusing on a goal or upcoming race – it is very easy to want to keep pushing. But rest days should not be overlooked. Rest days, in my opinion, are as vital a component of your training as long runs, tempo runs and speed work.

Rest days gives you:

  • a chance to restore glycogen levels
  • allows your body to adapt to an increased workload
  • protects against over-training which can often lead to injuries
  • reduces your overall fatigue, and offers a mental break from the rigors of training

Taking a rest day doesn’t mean you have to turn in to an instant sloth either. These days are perfect for any number of cross-training activities, yoga or taking your dog for a walk — activity that will moderately increase your heart rate and challenge your range of motion is a good thing. Though there may be times too when a day of complete rest with just some dynamic stretching is all that your body needs. I have quickly learned that at my ARA (advanced running age!) that my body needs the rest days and when I ignore them I eventually pay the price.

Do you adhere to the rest days in your training?

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Filed Under: half marathon training, Rest day

Taking on the hills

August 17, 2012 by 13 Comments

It’s Friday! And my legs are toast!

It has been a good week for workouts – my runs have felt good, though yesterday’s hill work was killer hard and did leave me wondering – “How will I do this for the next 5 weeks?!” The plan called 8 x 250 meter hill repeats with 5 miles of warm-up and cool-down. Somewhere after the 5th or 6th repeat I think I may have started to question my coach’s sanity, and by the final repeat there was definitely a fair amount of cursing involved.

While I have done an occasional hill workout on the treadmill to break-up the monotony of a mill run, this is the first time I have hill work as an integral part of my training plan. I have always read that hill work will make you a stronger runner, and I’m definitely up for that benefit! I also freely admit that I’ve always had a bit of a mental block when it comes to hills – I can easily psyche myself out, so I’m counting on this devotion to hill work to help me break through that barrier.

After yesterday’s torture session, I know the key to taking the sting out of hill running is proper form. I went back to re-read a timely article my coach included in his most recent newsletter from the International Association of Women Runners – which you can read HERE. I also broke out my notes from my Chi Running workshop and their Hills and Trails DVD. Lean into the hill, quicker turnover and increased arm swing…Yes I’m going to become a student of hill running! I’ll let you know how it goes.

So tell me – do you find hill running easy? Is it a regular part of your training?

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Filed Under: ChiRunning, hill work, running coach