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[exceptnooneschasingme]

Back in it

I've had to take a little time off running because of a long saga that essentially amounts to me having a hole in the ball of my foot.  It's not entirely resolved but I still felt good enough to do a few short miles tonight.  My heart and lungs were thrilled about it, my legs were a little tight but good, my foot not so much.  It's not that the pain is unbearable, but it's there and I worry about it getting worse.  My doctor told me to go to the podiatrist essentially so he could turn it into a bigger hole which will supposedly fix it, but I've been having trouble getting there because my one tiny chunk of free time during the week has been filled by job interviews.  

I'm feeling pretty rocky about training.  In part because of being taken off the road by this issue and in part because it has been pretty easy to not run.  I'm working around 70 hours/week right now between work and school and I'm definitely starting to feel the mental and physical drain.  Plus the time change means it's dark when I get off work, which means having to run less interesting routes in favor of light and general safety and I just feel more tired.  I know logically that running actually helps alleviate some of that drained feeling, but thinking about it - especially knowing that I'm still hurting - is exhausting.  

I'm definitely doubting myself and whether I really have what it takes to do this, but I've decided to try and follow through at least to the half marathon point.  Because I do want to do this, but I also want to experience the joy of running.  Part of this, I decided tonight, is that I'm going to start letting myself use headphones whenever I feel like it.  Quiet running has been incredibly important for me and I know I'll still do some quiet runs, but at this point with all of the time I spend commuting, doing work errands, sitting at desks I have so much time in my own rhythm that zoning out and enjoying some music / podcasts is what I need in the same way I needed the time in my own head when I started quiet running. 

In the meantime, I'm doing everything I can to keep my foot in the best shape possible and trying not to get too down on myself about mileage - let running be a release and not a stress. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

Marathon Training Week 2, Long Run

Welp.  Every long run makes me feel equal parts super strong and powerful and completely insane.  This run pushed me, but as early as a mile in I just thought, the only way this is going to end is you running seven miles, so all you can do is keep running.  And I did.  

And now I'm drinking a protein shake and giving my muscles some love.  I'm glad for the pull back week more for my mental stamina than physical.  Overall feeling good and ready to just keep going, one run at a time. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

Marathon Training, Week 2

I have been running, I just haven't really had the time to write about it.  As of tonight I've logged 18 training miles, which is 3 behind where I should be, but is still a figure I'm pretty proud of.  It's early days yet, but I'm feeling pretty good.

I did my first long run (6 miles) on Monday night.  Overall I felt good about it.  The toughest part is definitely getting over the third mile, after that the bridge from four to six is nothing.  Tonight I put in another three and I'll do the same tomorrow and potentially Saturday to make up for the three I'm down.  Then Sunday is seven miles, which is where this starts getting real. 

After Sunday, every subsequent long run will be the longest run I have ever done up to that point.  Does that make me feel insane for trying to do this? Yes. Yes. Yes it does.  Absolutely.  But it's also kind of exciting.  

I was thinking tonight that this whole thing is testing a theory I have that the only difference between an able-bodied person who can run a marathon and an equally able-bodied person who can't is the drive to keep running.  So... I'm going to keep running.  And see where I land. 

The magnitude of it all is definitely daunting.  It's a scary commitment to make to spend 18+ weeks on a journey that can be pulled out from under me with one wrong step, whether that's in week 5 or week 15.  That I could put months of work into this and not even be able to wear a bib, let alone a medal.  But the more I think about it, it's not really about the marathon.  I mean it is obviously, but part of how I've been conceptualizing training right now is looking at every run, every mile as a building block.  So even if I don't get to lay every single brick in the blueprint, I'll still have built something.  I've already built something.  It's week two and I already feel I've made progress worth being proud of. 

So yeah, there's a lot of doubt on the road if you think too hard about it.  But tonight, tired after work and thinking that if not for the plan I probably would have skipped this run, I asked myself if this is really what I want to be doing - if I really am in way over my head.  But the answer was that I was glad to be on the road.  I was glad to be running.  I felt strong.  So I'm trying to step off of looking at the big picture and just be glad to be on the road.  Just keep running. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

[exceptnooneschasingme]

Marathon Training Week 1, Run 2 of 4

I was out late last night and knew that getting up at five to run just wasn't in the cards.  I thought about trying to get in a run after getting home from work, but I know myself and I know the second I walk through the door after an 11 hour work day the chances of me getting changed and going back out to run is roughly .00001.  

Instead I decided to borrow my Monday night plan and go straight from work to running, then drive home after the run.  I used MapMyRun to figure out a 3 mile loop that would be well lit, well populated, and land me back at my car.  I then had to write out said route on my arm in nonsensical abbreviations, like so:

(taken before I changed into my running gear, obviously)

I forgot my armband which, though hella annoying, also meant that it was harder to check my distance with my phone in the pocket of my running water bottle.  It was actually really nice to be running a route and not a distance, especially because I'm really not worried about pace so much as just laying out the miles.  Not about to ditch the armband, but I think I will sleep my phone for the middle section of the run to get into that methodical, just running headspace again. 

The only real downside is that the air quality in Hollywood isn't quite as good as Santa Monica or even by my house, but it's not that big a deal.  Beyond that, it was actually a really good route that looped me up around the sunset strip.  Tomorrow I'm going to try it again and see if it is feasible to do on Fridays as well, given that there will be a lot more people out. Hopefully it works out because it would be so nice to shift back into a primarily evening running routine. 

All in all I felt really strong tonight.  Three miles isn't even a distance I have to think about anymore, which, though I know it's not that big a deal objectively, feels really good.  I ran hard but never felt like I was fighting it, which bodes well for building my distance.  Though it's not lost on me that this is week one and I'm excited and not really out of my comfort zone yet.  The road to 26.2 is long and I have no doubt it will be hard, but tonight I feel really good. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

Marathon Training Week 1, Run 1 of 4

And so it begins... with no expectations, no idea what to make of it, just putting sneakers to pavement and hoping for the best.  Okay, it's a little more complex than that, but that's how it feels tonight. 

After work I drove the 8 minutes down to the beach and ran 3 miles along the bike path.  I'm very excited for this to be my Monday routine as the route is awesome and it saves me a whole lot of time in traffic by heading home an hour later.  

Tonight was my first time on the road in what feels like forever - right around two weeks between the new job insanity and subsequent respiratory plague, but I'm back in action and it feels good.  If anything, it's good to be going into this with my muscles totally rested.   Despite some tightness which was to be expected, slipping back into the three felt like riding a bike.  The miles were slow, but I felt strong running them.  It was also so nice to be back in that rhythmic meditation of running.  I didn't realize just how much I'd missed it.  

As for training, I'm trying not to obsess over the big picture just yet.  Today I started running.  And I don't really intend on stopping any time soon.  While I do agree with Higdon's words on the difference between being a runner and being a consumer of training programs, right now I just need structure.  I need to stick to the formula.  So that's what I'm going to do. 

I've been saying since pretty much the day I started planning to do this that I am fully aware that it might all crash and burn in the face of working full time and going to school full time. And, if it does, I'll be able to shelve it for the time being and forgive myself.  Be glad for the miles I did run.  But somewhere on the road tonight, the thought shifted from what if this all crashes and burns? to what if it doesn't? The answer is I don't know, but I'm excited to be starting this adventure. 

Any way you cut it my body is going to take a beating over the next five months.  But today I'm feeling strong.  Today I'm feeling ready.  So here goes nothing.

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

By the way,

Posting (and indeed running, though I did run a bit last week) has been light because I started a new job last week and at this point I've just accepted that the first week at a new place always throws a wrench in training. 

This week has me absolutely leveled with a virus, so I've made the executive decision to push the start of marathon training one week to take the week to recover.  While this is disappointing on one hand, it's also kind of good because I only really get sick once a semester and I'd rather knock it out now before I get into a good training rhythm.  So I'll start in a week with one less buffer week built into training and everything will be fine. Until then, sleep, fluids, delivered meals and a lot of complaining. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

Just a FYI, getting nauseous after intense exercise might mean that you need more iron. I had the same issue a few years ago but an iron supplement cleared it right up. Also make sure you are well hydrated!

Very interesting! For as long as I can remember morning exercise has given me bouts of nausea, but I will definitely try some iron supplements! And yes, I try to be mindful of hydration but I definitely have my lapses (especially on Friday mornings because I tend to down coffee all day at my Thursday/Friday job :P)  Thanks so much for the info!

[exceptnooneschasingme]

The Good News: 

cool, damp morning setting up for a scorcher - a nice morning to run and good to be getting out before the heat

2.2 good miles logged

Steadily improving with morning running - felt good today

I always feel a little nauseous in the shower after morning runs, but less so today. Current fueling: a few handfuls of dry Special K protein cereal. I'll keep playing with it, but thus far this is the best I've tried.

Feeling better and better about morning running - I feel like I will be able to start logging significant morning mileage going forward, slowly but surely 

The Bad News

I wanted to do 2.5 this morning but I ran out of time

I need to work on getting out the door.  I'm waking up fine, I just get distracted and dawdle and then I don't get out in time to get my mileage in, which is fine (but annoying) right now but won't be soon

The plan: 

xt tonight / tomorrow

10k (hopefully on the beach) Saturday or Sunday

Get set for my first crazy schedule week / last week before training

Let's go. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

The Poorly Planned Runner in the Morning

I dawdled hard getting out of the door and, as a result, only had time for 1.25 miles.  So that wasn't great, but at the very least I managed to do it fast ("fast" of course being sub-11:30) and at least get something in.  Plus, slowly but surely, morning running is becoming more comfortable which is a relief because I think I am going to do almost all of my weekday marathon training runs in the morning. I really really should do a double shot tonight, but I always say that and then don't do it.  So I'll do my best.  Feel good about this run but dumb for not getting the full mileage.  Better luck tomorrow. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

I can't be the only one tired of the only color options for women's running shoes being pink, purple or white, right?

[exceptnooneschasingme]

Jog in the Fog Race Recap

I ran the 3.4 mile jog in the fog "5k" this morning, mostly to get myself reacquainted with racing before doing the Manhattan Beach 10k on October 4.  The race environment was incredibly relaxed, which was nice because I wasn't going in with any real goal except have a good run and practice the psychology of race running. 

My only real goal except obviously finishing was to try for negative splits, which in the context of a race really means "don't get hyped up and go out too fast."  I queued up a few slow songs to start with and kept a careful eye on my watch to consciously pull back the first mile and just run my own race.  After the first half mile it was a slow, steady incline up onto the trails. It wasn't anything serious, but given that I currently don't train hills (I'm planning to in the long term, but one thing at a time) it did slow me down a little and I do feel it in my calves.  By the 1.5 mark I was feeling good and ready to stop pulling back and just run like hell for the rest of the race.  This happened to be the exact point at which I discovered that when the course description mentioned "a few stairs near the end" it actually meant around .8 miles of stairs.  .8 miles of stairs.  For a race that was just a casual run, I wasn't about to risk an injury trying to fly over uneven trail stairs, meaning I power walked a decent portion.  But hey, it's cross training. But had I known the course would have so many stairs which couldn't really be run over I would have just shot out the gate and gunned the first mile and a half instead of being so conservative. Still, as it was I managed to fearlessly lead the over-70 and under 7 pack, and isn't that every 20-year-old runner's true ambition?

I was in a good rhythm by the last quarter mile, which ended with about a hundred vertical feet of stairs (narrow ones, not wide trail stairs).  I said fuck it and sprinted them, only to find out that there were about 300 more yards to be run at the top.  Spoiler alert, I spontaneously vomited about a hundred feet before crossing the finish line. Like a champ. This makes me 2 for 2 for finish line barfing, which is a little bit curious given that I don't treat races all that differently from any other run.  But I guess both times there has been a reasonable explanation (having four tubes of blood drawn less than 24 hours prior, sprinting a shit ton of stairs) so we will just have to see if this is a pattern that continues.  In which case I get to make a lot of jokes about it, so it could be worse.

All in all it was a gorgeous run on a nice day (foggy obviously, but really mild and pleasant) and forced me to run some hills and do some trail running which I probably wouldn't have done otherwise.  The race had a really relaxed atmosphere, which is just what I was looking for in a September 5k.  So I'll call it a win.

Onward and upward.  Tomorrow is technically my long run day to do 5.5-6, but I'll see how much today's hills are still on my legs. PLUS, I'm going over to ARM tomorrow to get fitted for shoes for the first time since I got my orthotics.  I have mixed feelings about this because I'm very attached to my current pair and they are comfortable, but looking at the ways they are wearing it is clear that I should get re-fitted to work with the orthotics.  Plus, they are still good for some more miles if I still find them comfortable and it's good to rotate shoes for injury prevention/ letting each pair fully decompress before wearing again for tight turnarounds between runs. 

One thing at a time, it's all happening.

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

Sunrise Miles

2.1 in the books this morning.  Muscles tight and stiff, making my legs feel more tired than they were.  I took a couple quick stretch breaks to hit any muscle that was fussing and one longer one halfway through, which helped a bit.  I thought about calling it at 1.5, but made myself push through the last .5.  It sounds silly to treat .5 like it's any kind of distance, but that's what early running does to me right now.  But anyway, I did the .5 and then forced myself to run .1 extra to prove that I'm better than having to push for two miles / ready to kick up my mornings to 2.5 next week. 

I had a clif shot about 10-15 minutes before going out.  Overall it was good - no blood sugar dips - but it was a little bit of a rock in my stomach, even moreso now than when I was actually running.  So I'm going to try a half of one next time and see if that is better. 

In the meantime, stretching stretching stretching and some foam rolling before work.  I might try to sneak in a double shot tonight, but more likely I'll come home from work and just collapse because running once today was enough (though counting these baby 2 milers as running days takes a toll on my overall mileage) then tomorrow will be a rest / road trip and Sunday morning I'll race the 3.4. Good plan. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

I have to start working in a better core regimen into my running, which I’ve known forever but has become especially clear to me after some light back aches after long runs. So here’s where I’m starting. 15 minute workout, 3-5 times a week. Aight.

Source

[exceptnooneschasingme]

The (Not) Quiet Runner in the Morning

Two 6am miles this morning... still working on morning running, but I'm going to have to get used to doing some weekday morning runs if I have half a shot at getting through marathon training.  Right now two is about my limit in the morning, so I'm going to try to work that up by doing 2.5 next week and 3 the following week while experimenting with some other variables.  

I ran with music for the first time since April or May this morning in an effort to combat the morning boredom.  The current idea is to let myself use headphones for morning runs and long runs once they get over 10 miles.  The music definitely helped me stay a little more interested, though I actually found that I hadn't missed it all that much.  

My biggest issue right now is that my muscles are so stiff and tight in the morning, even with stretching and foam rolling the night before, before, during and after. Tight muscles is something I have struggled with my whole life, so with the added morning stiffness it's not great.  But I'm working on it.  All I can do is keep doing it and pushing my muscles to get used to it. 

I'm also working on properly fueling.  Two on an empty stomach is fine, but by the end I started to feel the dip in my blood sugar.  I'm thinking I'll experiment with having half a banana right when I wake up, having an energy gel before I go out, and mixing a little gatorade in with my water and see what works best.

Oh, also I'm racing a "5k" (they call it a 5k but the course is actually 3.4) in SF on Sunday morning, so I'm excited about that.  I'm mostly doing it to flex my race muscles before the 10k on October 4, which is doubling as my first long run of training, but it looks like a pretty course and should be fun. 

Also I did my five mile long run on Sunday and felt really strong.  Slow, but strong.  So kicking it up to 5.5-6 this week - pretty excited. 

And now, off to work. Ah, morning running.  If nothing else I'm already feeling productive. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

Some shots from my San Francisco running last weekend, plus some of "cross training" ie some light hiking with the fam because my dog is the cutest. Also I broke 200 all time miles on Nike+, which I felt warranted a screenshot. Though the number is a lot smaller than I would have wanted / expected by now, I'm pretty proud of it considering everything.  Plus, to realize that I've run over 200 miles in under a year is pretty cool. 

Pretty much over the course of three days I hit Crissy Field twice (leaving my shoes sufficiently dusty), both times just for a relaxed, run-as-long-as-I-feel-like-it type deal. Despite an unforgiving wind, I felt pretty good about it.  Both ended up falling a little over three miles, which is a good place to be in as my default comfort distance.  I would like to see that be more around 4-5 by the end of September, ie the beginning of marathon training. 

Meanwhile, back in LA I'm adjusting to what I'm affectionately calling my Afallcolypse, or this semester in which I am working four days in addition to being a full time student, totaling to about 60 hours a week in class and work before any homework, side projects, etc.  I'm still working out how running fits into that, but I'm determined to make it fit.  

My goal this month is to run around 40-50 miles, which will get me in an okay place for the 65 of Higdon month one.  I'm trying to up my miles and get in a good routine where training won't be a shock, but also let myself take liberties with rest days, diet, etc that I won't be able to take beginning in October.  

Given the state of my life right now, I really don't know how marathon training is going to go.  I may have to bow out and set my sights on a fall marathon which I'll have more time to train for.  Usually I try to eliminate the arrival fallacy, or the idea of "I will be less busy/happier/more productive when x happens..." but the bottom line is that I've been given some incredible opportunities this semester that I just couldn't turn down and the subsequent insanity is worth it, however I won't do this to myself again.  I'm going to go back to my more traditional, albeit still pretty chaotic, college student life after this semester.  But I'm still going to start the training.  I still want to finish it.  I am still going to work hard at it.  And if nothing else, it will force me to run.  I need to let go of the constant need to pad myself and everyone I mention it to for the eventuality that I may have to quit.  I've gotten it out.  If it comes to that, okay. I'll be able to live with myself.  But for now, full speed ahead! (or, you know, slow but determined speed ahead ... !) 

And now I'm going to go force myself to run the five miles I've been fear-procrastinating all day and everything will be awesome. 

Hannah

[exceptnooneschasingme]

The slowest runner on the course is still faster than every single person who stayed home.