Let’s Review

This isn’t your normal weekly review of training. This is more of a review on how things have been going, and what I need to do. I’m combining this week and next week’s training recaps together, so stay tuned for that next week. This past week was a bad week, and not just bad week, but an awful week. I got super sick, and I swear I still have a bit of it that I just can’t kick. A week and a half of not feeling right just isn’t good. Throw in moving and all the stresses that come with that, and you’ve got  yourself a disaster waiting to happen. I was worn down, mentally and physically. And then I hit rock bottom when my 12 year old cat lost his battle with cancer. Believe what you may, but I fully feel that animals are part of the family.

Carter before he was sick

So needless to say, training was rough last week. And it has been the past couple of weeks. I haven’t been hitting my miles, but I have been running pain free. So what do I do? I’m no where near hitting 26 miles at one time, and I can’t push the marathon to next year.

Well, I still have about 7 weeks left. I’ve changed my plan around, and I’m  hoping to do a long run every weekend. Each week adding two miles and hopefully get up to 22 before race day. It’s going to be hard, and it’s going to be rough. But I don’t want to give up on this marathon. I can at least try and see what happens.  I know I won’t do as well as I hoped, but I’m glad my body is better. I didn’t take care of myself back in the spring like I should have, and unfortunately it ended up hurting my training.

I guess I’ll just have to sign up for another marathon to really get the proper training and see what I’m capable of. Any suggestions for a spring 26.2?

The Big Easy

Last week I spent some time down south, New Orleans to be exact. Most of my time was spent at a product safety conference, but I was able to break away the day before things started and a spent a little bit of time touring the city. I’d never been to New Orleans, and I had never traveled alone for a work trip. Nervous? Slightly, but still excited to check out why everyone loves the city so much. I flew in Monday late afternoon and was able to spend about an hour walking the streets of the French Quarter…

St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square

Mississippi River

French Quarter charm

The city had a lot of character, and characters. I didn’t want to stay out too long. Tiny blonde, walking by herself in a new city? Probably not a good idea. But I was glad to experience a little bit of the New Orleans scene.

 
Tuesday morning I was up and out the door of my cute hotel by 8am. I was ready to take on the streets, when all of a sudden I started melting. The temperature and humidity were both 85, hello sweat fest! I sucked it up and headed north until I made it to the famous Bourbon Street….

Bourbon Street

So empty and clean

After snapping a picture, I headed back and finished my mini tour by foot with a little over 1.5 miles logged. Not a lot, but a decent run, with my pace near 8:30 and a constant battle of stopping and starting back up at stop signs.

The majority of my time was spent inside a nice air conditioned ballroom, learning about rules and regulations. But I was able to try some Louisiana cuisine with gumbo and jambalaya. The best thing about the south…sweat tea

I’m glad I got to spend a quick visit in the Big Easy, I’m not sure when I’ll be back, but I definitely want to check out the historical factors of the city. New Orleans is also on my list of the 25 challenge. Who knows, the next time I’m down here I may be running 13.1 miles through the French Quarter.

Columbus Marathon Training: Week 7

It’s been a busy, crazy, stressful week, but I’m going to claim it as a victory. I’m still pulling some short runs, and lack of runs, but I’ve finally ventured into a few weeks of pain free running. While my longest run has only been 3 miles, way under where I’m supposed to be, I’m proud of where I am. I may have taken a big step back by taking these weeks easy. But I’m able to run multiple miles a few times a week and not have any pain. I haven’t been able to do this since the beginning of March! Huge win for me.

I was even able to mix up my run by doing morning runs and got a chance to run in the New Orleans for my Tuesday run. It was incredibly hot and humid by 8am, but it was a nice way to see the city. I felt like I could have gone longer, but cut it short to play it safe in an area I didn’t know. It’s much better to run on Bourbon Street at 8am than 8pm.

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 1.5 Miles

Wednesday: Rest Day

Thursday: 3 Miles

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: Rest Day

Total Miles: 4.5 Miles

While I’m still stuck in low mileage, I’m hoping this next week I can really focus on some longer runs. I’m at a crucial point where I need to get my mileage back up and right away. These next two weeks could be determining factor for how the race will go. If I can’t get my mileage back to where it needs to be, I honestly may need to rethink training.

Columbus Marathon Training: Week 6

This week was all about taking the doctor’s advice and really laying off on the miles. I’m still far enough away from race day that I can manage taking days off and it shouldn’t effect my race. I’m not going for time after all, just making it to that finish line. I didn’t get as many miles in as I had hoped, and I defintely didn’t cross train like I wanted, but there was no getting around it this week. Saturday I’ll be moving, so I’ve been packing up my apartment, visiting friends before I leave and getting ready for my trip to New Orleans, which is where I’m currently headed. Even my 9 hours of sleep I require is suffering, so you know I’ve been busy and stressed.

I’m also in that post injury scared zone. I had two good runs, they weren’t long, but I had no pain. First time since St. Malachi! I’m nervous that this will be a fluke, and it’s sure to come back once I hit over 5 miles. And if the pain does come back, how bad will it be? Will it be worse? Not as bad? Will I be done for the rest of the year? I can’t live in fear that I’m always going to have painful runs, I just need to run and deal with what happens.

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 2 Miles

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 2.5 Miles

Sunday: Rest Day

Total Miles: 4.5 Miles

I’m down to 2.5 months left until the big day. I experienced my first pain free run in months, followed by a second. I need to embrace it, continue to be careful and make sure I take extra care of my body from now on. I can’t let myself keep getting hurt.

Next week I’ll be in New Orleans for three days. Luckily I’ll have some down time the first day, so I’m hoping to explore the city on a little run. Then over the second half of the week, I’ll be moving, so running will be a luxury. Here’s hoping I can get back into some heavy mileage.

Columbus Marathon Training: Week 5

A new week, a new opportunity for training. Last week was bad, but that was last week. I needed to get back into normal training mode. This included a 4 mile run to start the week. I felt great, I felt strong, I felt semi back to normal. It was the run I needed to pull  myself back up. Pity party over.

Tuesday was my doctor’s appointment, and after waiting for almost two hours I finally had a chance to see the doctor. After poking and stretching, she’d decided I have hamstring tendinitis. Most likely from overuse and not resting after it started. So how do I cure this? She suggested cross training, physical therapy and limit my running (ie. that 16 miler on Saturday isn’t happening). She also gave me a bunch of stretches to try and suggest that I scrap all junk miles and either my half in Maine or the full.

So I created a revised training plan,consisting of cross training and stretching for a week and see how the pain feels. Which means a full 7 days without running. After one day I became a little cranky. By the time next Tuesday rolls around, I’m sure I’m going to be very pleasant. Even though I ran less miles this week than last week, I know I’m doing the right thing by taking a small amount of time off. I’d rather be hurt now and overcome it, than be doing some hard damage the week  before the marathon.

Monday: 4 Miles

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: Biked 6 Miles

Thursday: Biked 5 Miles

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: Rest Day

Total Miles: 4 Miles Run, 11 Miles Biked

What’s my revised plan? I’m taking it day by day. This week I want to bike the amount of miles I was supposed to run, as long as I’m not in pain. Wednesday night I had my first ride on the stationary bike and dominated some Jeopardy as well. Thursday morning I got  up early and got some more miles in. Both rides were pain free and so tempting to go running. I’m hoping that by taking the weekend off and doing absolutely nothing to strain my knee, I should be able to get a few more miles in next week.

What does this do to my races I have scheduled? This was hard. I knew I had some smaller races coming up, like a 10k and a 5k, I hadn’t registered yet.  I decided that I should cross those off the list and focus on the important races, or at least races further into the fall. The hardest decision was MDI. I know the course will be challenging, including a mile of going straight uphill. As much as I love Maine, and love Mount Desert Island, I just don’t think this is the year I should be doing it.

What I learned this week:

• Taking it easy is ok when you’re injured. Sometimes you need to sit back and let your body take care of itself. Just remember that no one likes a cranky runner, so keep your craziness to yourself.
• Taking a DNS on a race isn’t always so bad. While I can’t defer my registration, I know in the end, that it’s better for me to sit this one out than hurt my body a month before the marathon.
• If you have to pick races, pick the one that will mean the most to you. I’ve put in so much time and effort already this year, I don’t want to drop the marathon. If I’m still injured come race day, I can at least say I tried and gave it all I had.

Beauty and Inspiration

Last week I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award from Courtney. I was pretty pumped and surprised that I received this. Even though I’ve been blogging for two years, I felt that I haven’t been strong enough in the blog world until recently. I never considered my blog inspiring, but I guess each post can be inspiring to someone! I felt honored because this girl is a pretty inspiring blogger and person herself. She moved from Texas to Colorado, and has been completely dominating the run scene. She’s currently training for her third marathon, CIM, and has only been running for about two years. How awesome is that.

Then I was nominated for the Beautiful Blogger Award by Melissa. Melissa’s  blog is one of my most recent ones that I’ve started to read, but I’m finding out that she is pretty awesome. She’s a Jersey girl gone Texan and loves wine and running. She  is also currently getting ready for a marathon, the Philadelphia Marathon in November!

Here are the rules:

• Display the award logo somewhere on your blog.
• Link back to the blog of the person who nominated you.
• State 7 things about yourself.
• Nominate other bloggers for the award & provide links to their blogs.
• Notify those bloggers that they have been nominated and of the award’s requirements.

7 Things About Me…..

• I rarely drink pop, but when I do, I prefer two kinds: Dr.Pepper or Vanilla Coke. If either aren’t available, I’ll pass. I’d rather have a water or anything lemon lime flavored.
• I can’t swim. I took swimming lessons when I was little, but it was always so cold, I never paid attention. Now I can’t do more than the doggy paddle, and I panic if I’m in water over my head. Not a good thing living along Lake Erie.
• I’ve never broken a bone. I’ve strained things, had a herniated disc and turned my arch to absolute mush. Somehow I’ve dodged anything from breaking, but I’m still pretty injury prone.
• I’ve worn the same running shoes my entire running career. As long as I can remember I’ve always run in Asics Gel 1xxx series shoes. I tried others, but nothing is more comfortable than wearing those old reliable laces.
• I have big plans to travel someday. Not only do I want to travel the US, but I’m hoping to explore more places, and the first two on my list are Australia and Europe. Road trip anyone?
• Since I graduated college I’ve moved three times, and will be adding a fourth to the list this month. I went from New Concord to Avon to Berea to Westlake. Next  up…Medina.
• I used to race my car in Autocross. I started on my 16th birthday with my Miata, and then continued with my Mazda3. I even won my class one year, beating a few guys!

And here are the bloggers I think are both inspirational and beautiful….

• Molly….One of the most inspirational people I know. She makes every run count and never takes it for granted. She certainly encouraged me to run Columbus this year.
• Heather….Currently training for the Chicago Marathon and has already done two triathlons this summer! She runs hard, but throws in some fun on her blog too.
• Kimi…One of the first blogs I started reading, this fabulous lady balances running, working, and raising an adorable son in the cutest town, Vermilion.
• Elayna….A student at OSU currently doing a clinical for her doctorate of physical therapy. She loves all things Cleveland and Columbus. OH….
• Ellie….Honestly a beautiful soul. She stands for what she believes in, but has fun along the way. She also creates amazing coasters on the side
• Caitlin….This girl doesn’t let anything stand in her way. Her best posts: her travels to China. Amazing what you can learn from them.