to race or not

Time to fold ’em

October 30, 2014 by Michelle 22 Comments

“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run…”

This is not the training update I wanted to be writing…but, I’ve reached a decision – it is time for me to fold ’em on this training cycle. I have been giving everything I can to try to get through my training plan for Philly but the reality is you can either focus on getting 100% healthy or you can train – you can’t do both. Or at least I know I can not.

When I learned that I’m anemic I was relieved to have an answer to my energy woes. My first thought was “I still have time – just change the diet and I’ll be back on track.” The reality is for me this has not been a quick bounce back and yet I have continued to push my body – push the distances, push the speedwork. There have been some really solid workouts, but they’ve taken a toll on me later in the day. Honestly my comfort zone is 6 – 7 miles…after that things get really hard – like short-of-breath, headache-inducing hard.

Of course, I’m disappointed – Philly was a goal race in a year of very little racing. I’m not interested in going and struggling or worrying about how under-trained I am or if I’ll hold up on the course. Feeling healthy and strong again is so much more important – there will be other races (you should see what I’m planning for 2015!).

Once I made the decision and discussed it with J and Coach Bennett, I felt a great sense of relief. You see, the other thing that was happening is that running had stopped being my stress release – it had become something to stress about. Oh so no bueno! This is just one race — time to know when to walk away…this is not the time to run.

Have you ever walked away from a goal race?

Filed Under: choices, listening to your body, to race or not

Thursday Thoughts

October 24, 2013 by Michelle 12 Comments

Small Changes — I’m a couple of days behind on my #OneSmallChange update. So I was on a roll with Week 1‘s daily planks and then Week 2‘s keeping my coffee table clutter free, but I hit a bump in the road with Week 3’s change to up my daily water intake. Don’t know why I have such a tough time with this one, but I’ve decided to re-commit to this change for week 4 and see if I have better luck.

Race Debate — I’ve done very little running in the past week and half – in fact I’ve run exactly 3 times. I’ve been trying to give my bum foot and knee as much TLC as possible. And while the knee feels pretty good, my foot was sore after Tuesday’s run. I saw my massage therapist and she treated it and gave me the hairy eyeball when I floated the idea of running in this Sunday’s 5k. The Canton Fall Classic is one of my favorite races – it’s local so I get to see and catch up with a lot of friendly faces – I’d really hate to miss running it. I may hold off till Sunday morning to make the final call on this one.

And speaking of races... I did register for one more half for this year – it’s December 8. Yes I recognize that living in New England the first weekend of December can bring everything from freakishly mild temps to snow, but I’m going to cross my fingers and dig out my Yak-Traks just in case 🙂 My half marathon performance this year has left me underwhelmed to say the least and I’d like to take one last shot at putting together a good race before closing the book on 2013.

So tell me — what’s your best trick for making sure you get enough water? Would you run on Sunday?

Filed Under: #13in2013, Canton Fall Classic, foot pain, hydration, massage, Small changes, to race or not

Change in race plans

March 11, 2013 by Michelle 6 Comments

Black ice and an already tweaky knee quickly turned a 10 mile run in to 3 miles yesterday morning. I was lucky to not fall but the slide aggravated an already cranky left ITB/knee. I was only a mile and a half into my run when it happened and this little voice in my head said don’t push it…go home. Usually I’m fairly stubborn and would have kept going, but this time I think I made the right call.

I have been quietly agonizing for the last couple of days over the question of whether or not to run the New Bedford Half next Sunday. That same little voice I heard out on the road today is the same voice that has been getting increasingly louder over the past two weeks questioning whether running New Bedford is a good idea. Despite it not being a goal race, the truth is I am not where I’d like to be going into a race – and slogging through a race just for the sake of saying I finished it sounds really unappealing! Nor do I think it makes sense to push this knee/ITB and jeopardize the rest of my spring races and beyond.

I had this race on my calendar for two reasons – as a check in to see where I am in my training and because it’s suppose to be a fun, well-run race. Well I think I have my answer to where I am right now and as I said, the fun will quickly be negated if I’m out there slogging along.

So after an email exchange with Coach Bennett I’ve decided I will not be toeing the line next weekend. Still hard for me to type that, but I know it’s the right choice.

Have you ever gone through with a race when you know you shouldn’t have?

Filed Under: choices, ITB, listening to your body, New Bedford Half, to race or not

The race that didn’t happen

February 18, 2013 by Michelle 8 Comments

So Mother Nature was in a mood this weekend and Sunday’s race didn’t happen. When a race director describes the conditions as “treacherous” thanks to a combination of a couple of inches of snow and 45 mph winds – I’m good with the decision to postpone the race.

What I was not good with was the email from the race director I received later that said they were not going to reschedule (as they had originally announced), but instead cancel the race! I think if you’re going to host a race in New England in February you should have contingency plans in place that account for the weather. Leaving 1,000 runners with no alternative but a $10 off next year’s registration didn’t sit well with me… and I told the director as much. I was not looking for a refund but a good faith effort to move forward with the race and I’m just not certain that every effort was made to find a way to reschedule the race in the few hours that passed between the decision to postpone and the decision to cancel.

I’ve had a race postponed due to weather safety issues before and I remember how thrilled all of us runners were when the race was rescheduled – it was a great day out on the course and the runners literally applauded the race director and volunteers for getting it done. Needless to say I returned to run that race again the following year.

Have you ever had a race canceled? How did you feel about it?

Filed Under: Old-fashioned 10 Miler, race, to race or not, weather

Cough, Sputter, Blow…Repeat

May 24, 2012 by Michelle 9 Comments

Cough, Sputter, Blow…that’s what I’ve done all week…and it hasn’t been pretty! I am a congested, coughing, hacking mess!

I’ve been holding out hope that my body will cooperate so I can race Sunday, but clearly my body (particularly my lungs) has other plans. After a low point on Tuesday, I thought the worst of it was over and announced I was going for a short run on Wednesday. J looked concerned but didn’t discourage me. However, when just going upstairs to get dressed sent me into a coughing spasm, I decided to hold off (The Universe smacking me upside the head perhaps?). After a slightly better night’s sleep last night, I once again declared I was going for a run this morning.

So I set out to do a simple 5k loop – except it was anything but simple. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say I wheezed and hacked my way through it and had to walk a couple of times — really?!? And, when I finished it felt like I had to have gone a lot further than just 3 miles. OK so I have my answer – short of a miracle turnaround in the next 48 hrs, there will be no race for me this weekend 🙁

As you can imagine I’m ticked off – 9 weeks of running my fanny off to be brought down in the end by a relentless cough! As much as I wanted to run this race again, this is the wise choice for the long-term. So I’ll allow myself a bit of a pity party today (but just today – really…first world problems), hit my doctor’s appointment tomorrow to figure out what’s going on, and then set my sights on a new target.

Filed Under: cough from hell, DNS, to race or not

Decisions, Decisions – To Race or Not

May 21, 2012 by Michelle 12 Comments

Do you ever get the feeling the Universe is trying to tell you something?

I’m six days away from the Boston’s Run to Remember Half and I’m not sure if I’m going to make it to the starting line.

From the start, this has felt like an odd training cycle — while the tempo runs and track work have been decent, the long runs have been underwhelming. In fact, because of the odd foot pain I was having a couple of the long runs were cut short. The foot pain has passed, but the new wrench in the works is a nagging cough that showed up more than a week ago – allergies most likely. Again it put a big crimp in my final long run on Saturday to the point where I wondered aloud for the first time – “How am I ever going to get through 13 miles of this?”

The truth is there’s been something that has just felt off to me over the last 4 weeks or so, and I have done my best to try to ignore it. But, as Sunday edges closer I cannot ignore it any longer. I’m going to have to make a decision to either run the half, drop down to the 5-miler or pass on the whole thing and look for something else down the road.

I really want to run this half – it was my first ever, it’s a great course and my whole family will be there along the route. However, I don’t want to limp through this half…no every race doesn’t need to be a PR, but I don’t want to struggle through it either if this cough won’t let me run it the way I want to. I’d rather keep the great memory I have of my first run and hold off for another year – does that make sense?

Right now I have no idea what the right call is. I’m going for a short run this morning to see if the allergy meds are having any effect.

Have you ever been on the fence about a race?
How did you make the call?