Pre-race Thoughts - Myrtle Beach

My trip to Myrtle Beach has gotten off to a roaring start (knock on wood). Security was practically a walkthrough, and my luggage didn't need to be searched, even though I've crammed a space blanket in there. I even got to hear TSA discuss how someone was a "GIANT TOOL" - somehow he sent his jacket with ID through the X-ray before his boarding pass was checked.

There was also a scare last night when US Airways called saying the second leg of my flight was delayed, but then immediately called back saying it was now on time. Jokes.

I'm supposed to start boarding in about 40 minutes, but considering our plane is still not here...I thought I would whip out a quick post. (ETA - plane has arrived while I've been editing the post!) I had planned to do this last night, but I was too busy spending quality time with my parents. (And big shout-out to my dad for interrupting his work this morning to drop me off at the airport!)

I've struggled a bit with what I want to cover in this post. It would be easy to accidently turn it into a review of Run Less Run Faster. That post is definitely on my to do list, but I want this to be a more simple reflection on what happened and what I hope to have happen tomorrow.

I've talked about my injury on the blog (and in person) until I was blue in the face, and everyone reading/listening was probably ready to injure me further to make me shut up already. It certainly didn't feel like it at the time, but the injury was probably very good for me. I've always struggled to skip runs, even if it's for an extremely good reason, but now I feel like I have a more laid back approach. This is obviously a work in progress, but I'm making steps in the right direction.

I did lose some endurance during the lay-off, but my cardio capacity seems to be right where I want it. This is what I typically struggle with: I'm okay to suck it up buttercup when my legs hurt, but the minute I start sucking wind, I'm done. The race tomorrow is obviously not a sprint (thank God), but I'm glad my lungs are prepped for the challenge, nonetheless.

I just truly don't understand people who feel this way.

I am a little nervous about how my legs will hold up. My long runs following my break weren't exactly stellar, but my 13 miler at MP two weeks ago was awesome. I'm hoping running on snow-free streets, in the sun, in ideal temperatures will be just the boost I need to outperform my training runs.

The plan at the moment is to run with the 4:45 pace group. I had been planning to run a 4:30ish before, so I feel like scaling back five minutes per week of injury is a reasonable adjustment. This will also be my first time running with a pace group, but I hope it's a good experience. While my Garmin can be programmed as a pacing crutch, which I love, I hope having a leader to stick with will keep me motivated. Maybe I'll even make some new friends!

All the tracking for the race is via the Myrtle Beach Marathon app. I think I set it up correctly to have my splits auto-posted to Twitter. (Follow me @myeagerfeet.) If not, you can always download the app and track me that way. My bib number is 696. It's such a boost to know people are tracking my progress when I hit timing mats! But the race does start at 6:30 AM, so no judging if sleep through most of it.

There is also a live stream at mile eight, which really makes no sense to me. I'm definitely on the slower end of the spectrum, but it's going to be right around 8 AM when I get there. If I were fast or people tracking me were not in the Eastern time zone, this would useless. But it's there if you're interested.

Good luck to everyone else racing this weekend!

(And good luck to everyone staying warm!)

Three Things Thursday - January 15

My weekend always ends the same way - lamenting that it's over and I have to go to work the next day. I'm not sure why, because the week just seems to fly by! How is it already Thursday?!

There's not too much to report from the home front that's not running related. The good news is we finally got a replacement for a team member who quit at work (yay!), but HR still has not delivered his computer (boo!). On top of that, the person his job supports has yet to be replaced, so there's currently zero people taking care of that area.

Half of the new guy's job is similar to mine, so I imagine this will largely become My Problem at month end. I'm not trying to sound whiny - I honestly think it's pretty funny just because it's so absurd. (Like even the camera broke when the new person tried to get his ID badge made.)

I've also realized what a small world it is. I live in a relatively small town (about 40,000 people), but I somehow sit next to someone I went to high school with, and the new guy is someone I worked with at my internship (at a completely different company). It gets crazier because my high school had 6200 people, so I actually know very few people that went there with me. (I didn't sit by a single person I knew at graduation.) My internship was also at one of that firm's smaller offices, so it's also quite the happenstance that I know our new team member. I certainly don't go out of my way to burn bridges, but every day is now a reminder never to do that.

I know, none of that is related to the actual topic of my blog - but it was just so funny and strange I had to share! Anyway, let's talk about three other things.

1. I'm back to running!

I did do six miles, I just don't have my watch calibrated correctly.

I'm so so so excited about this one. So excited, in fact, that it should be all three things on this list. After three weeks of rest, my peroneal tendonitis seemed to be pretty well healed. Walking and climbing stairs were no longer painful, and I could do a pretty intense self-massage without pain. (Before, any pressure was practically unbearable.)

I also did some yoga on Monday since I couldn't make it to the pool, and I could sit in hero's pose pain-free. (Okay, that's a lie, I can only do it for about a minute because my quads are so tight, but before, my bodyweight put so much pressure on my tendons that I almost cried trying to do the pose.)

It was super cold Tuesday after work - I think maybe the actual air temperature was about 5? - so I decided to hit the indoor track instead, for an easy six miles. There were some minor aches and pains in my soft tissue from disuse, but everything eventually evaporated (how's that for alliteration!) as I continued. The track has a concrete surface and is 12 laps to a mile, so I'm writing off the little bit of tenderness I had Wednesday to that.

It was a bit sad to note that my legs were tired when I finished and I had some soreness yesterday morning. I know my running ability will come back quickly, but it's at such odds with my self-identity. I'm a marathon runner, damnit, six easy miles shouldn't hurt!

2. I've adjusted my goal for Myrtle Beach.

My original goal was to run a 4:30, but I think that's a little bit out of reach at this point, with one more full week of training before taper starts. (This training cycle flew by!) I know the fitness I built is still in there, and I don't want to sell myself short out of fear, so my new goal is 4:45. I think this strikes a fair balance.

This would still be an 11 minute PR, plus there will be a 4:45 pace group. I edited the last few weeks of my training plan based on this pace, and I started getting really excited about running again! I wasn't not excited before, I just had a more challenging goal, which took a lot more mental energy to wrap my head around. We'll have to see how my tempo run goes later today, but these paces at least sound very doable. I'm not even freaking out about my long run any more!

I will admit making this adjustment was still pretty hard for me, even though I know it's the right thing to do. I've realized I get caught up in reading other running blogs and seeing how fast others can do marathons, and then self-imposed a lot of pressure to get to that level. I don't think I was consciously aware of this - I never feel bad about the paces I run in training, and I don't feel particularly jealous of faster runners. I want to emulate their success, sure, but I wasn't constantly thinking, "oh, I have to be as fast as them or I suck."

But I guess somewhere in the bowels of my Type A mind, my subconscious grabbed the wheel and went full speed ahead to injury land. I'm hoping to truly learn my lesson this time around. When I pick my next marathon time goal, I want to have a real reason why - "because I should be able to run that fast" does not count!

3. It is really freaking cold.

I'm trying really hard not to complain too much about this winter (but clearly failing), since November and December were so mild. However, yesterday was a little much: it was -17 (air temp, not even real feel) when I got up for work. My coworker had her condo at 65 degrees, and all her pipes still completely froze.

We also came in to find our coworker from Texas sitting in her winter jacket, hood up, with a scarf wrapped all around her head. I think she sat that way for at least another hour. (Just to be clear - we all poke fun at her about this, but she laughs about it too. I don't want any of this to come across as mean! She got to win her battles in the summer, when she'd comfortably wear jackets in 90 degree weather.)

It does lead to interesting cross-cultural discussions, ie the Texan thought putting your heat at 65 to sleep was far too cold. I polled my chiro from Florida, and he concurred. We also had to explain what a scraper was (and why she needed one), because her initial reaction was that scraping a car sounded like a bad thing. She now jokes she should start a Youtube channel to document learning about winter. I think it could honestly go viral because she is so genuine and funny.

The good news is the weather forecast is calling for a high of 40 on Saturday! I can't wait to hit the road with my favorite podcast again for a long run!

Have you ever experienced the small world effect?
What temperature do you consider to be absurdly cold?

Run Less Run Faster: Week Eleven

So I may have lied when I said last week was my final week of rest. After continuing to feel my tendonitis, I decided to extend my running hiatus a little longer. While I've certainly run through tendonitis worse than this, I'm still not 100% what straw broke the camel's back this training cycle, so I wanted to be conservative.

I was also challenged this week when I realized spinning was inflaming my tendons further and slowing my recovery. Michael had suggested this might be the case, which I quickly dismissed because there was no pain while spinning, but after a particularly painful flare-up following Tuesday's spin, I realized he was right. (These are my symptoms when I run, so I don't know why I was so stubborn.)

I did my best to modify the schedule again, but other life events took precedence for once. It was my busiest week of work of the year, which left me pretty burned out by Thursday night, and I took some mental health time instead. I also went to visit Hannah over the weekend. Considering she won't be back from Georgia until July, I wanted to maximize time with her, rather than worrying about workouts. I think both of these were good choices.

Monday, January 5
1000 yd swim

I was really nervous about this swim, since it called for me to swim 20 minutes continuously. I think the longest I've swum before was about 12 minutes. I decided to just take it very slow, and I was super excited that I got in 800 yards. Once again, I showed myself I'm stronger in the pool than I think.

Tuesday, January 6
lunch - lift
PM - 7.5 mi spin

I did some quick intervals on the bike, and I felt like I had really worked hard when I was done. But like I said, my leg hurt a lot, so it did more harm than good. (Why, body, why?!)

Never not use.

Wednesday, January 7
lunch - 1000 yd swim
PM - Ashtanga Yoga for Beginners

Maybe I was giddy that books were closed at work, but for some reason I threw in a yoga video this night. I really wanted to try Ashtanga, so I did Do Yoga With Me's super beginner version. It was quite challenging, and I was even sore the day after! However, I still was able to follow along pretty well, since it turns out my Slow Flow class is just an easier version of Ashtanga.

Thursday, January 8
lift

I had plans to do yoga that night, but I played video games instead. I felt much better afterwards.

Friday, January 9
rest

Saturday, January 10
rest

Hannah and I did do some walking around downtown, but we spent most of our time staying warm inside and talking.

Sunday, January 11
rest

The two of us did a bit more walking around a local park, but otherwise we were inside, plus I had the long-ish drive back. I gave myself just enough time to do my Sunday chores, so a workout didn't happen.

Bike Miles: 7.5
Swim Miles: 1.2  
Lifting Time: 42 mins
Yoga Time: 1 hr, 12 mins
Total Time: 3:29

I will be truthful and admit I almost had a heart attack when I added up my total time for the week and saw how low it was. Then I stopped for a second and took a step back. I wasn't just laying around on the couch because I had caught a case of the lazies - I was working lots of overtime, resting an injury, and seeing a good friend. There's nothing wrong with actually acknowledging life happens outside of running for once!

 

And in any case, today will officially be my first real day back to running, with an easy six miles on the schedule! This time I'm equipped with new shoes (more cushioning, heyoo!) and a new attitude (willing to adapt). I'm trying to apply what I've learned from the injury and modify the plan to prevent a relapse. (I know, who am I?)

Instead of a track workout, a tempo run, and a long run, I'm going to do an easy run, a shorter tempo run, and a progressive long run. Hopefully this will keep me healthy. I only have 32 days left to prepare!

What are you favorite ways to cross-train?
How do you find a training-life balance?

Five Things Friday - January 9

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm pleased to report I made it through my first year-end close almost entirely unscathed. Normally year-end would be the worst week of the year, so it's really brought home to me how hard I've worked the other months of the year, that this feels easy by comparison. Seriously, feeling relaxed and calm during year end is unheard of. It was nice to take a step back and realize I've far I've come since last year.

Without further ado, let's dive into this week's Five Things:

1. Polar Vortex Round 2

I know, I know, everyone is suffering too, but I just had to include it. At the beginning of the week, the brutal cold made my decision to rest a little longer easier, but now I'm starting to get some major cabin fever. We got socked with about six inches of snow last weekend, and I'm currently probably creeping into week at about five miles per hour as you read this.

At least the view from my apartment is pretty!

2. My injury is finally healing!

So it turns out all those spin pictures I was Instagramming were not only obnoxious to my IG friends, but to my body as well. After a couple days off from the bike and then hopping back on, I realized it was aggravating my injury. Super duper. Anyway, I tried to keep my positive pants on and did some yoga instead, which significantly improved my pain! There's still a tiny bit of discomfort, but I'm hoping by Sunday (when we should have a polar vortex break with a steamy 28 degrees) I can try a short run.

3. I got new shoes!

I've had a lot of free time to stew think since I've been injured, and I was trying to figure out what made me so susceptible to this tendonitis. The only thing I've ever been able to determine before was that it's much worse when it's cold. (Random, I know.) Then I realized the only thing that's been consistent during my running career is my shoes.

I absolutely love my Wave Riders, but I now think they might have been the cause of my tendonitis. With this in mind, I braved the terrible roads yesterday after work to go to the running store. It sounded dumb to say out loud, but I basically asked if I could get the same shoe but one that wouldn't injure me. To my great delight the salesperson popped out of the back with Mizuno Wave Creations. These have the same exact fit as my Wave Riders (narrow feet, ftw!), but they have a lot more cushioning.

Plus you can't go wrong with purple.

I'm eager to take these bad boys out for a spin. Even better is the store has a 30 day exchange policy, so if I hate them, I can get something else. How awesome is that?!

4. My Type A personality had a field day.

Like I said, I've had a lot more free time since being injured. (Not running four hours on Saturdays will do that, I guess.) I took some time this past Sunday to put together my training plan through mid-October and the Newport Marathon. My current plan is to finish up my modified version of RLRF for Myrtle Beach, then I will use Hal Higdon's various Multiple Marathons plans through the Missoula Marathon in mid-July. Then I'm going to try out Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning plan with the hope to PR at Newport. Got all that?

5. Mental health breaks are so necessary.

Like I said above, year end hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected, but I'm still pretty wiped. I still had to work quite a bit of overtime (though I've certainly worked much more), and I decided last night to skip my planned cross-training and play my fun new LotR video game instead. This was really hard for me to do, but it was so refreshing to relax on the couch and do something relatively mindless. (And I elevated my leg, so it wasn't totally wasted time!)

This is actually what I look like since I haven't been able to run in so long!

Stay safe and warm this weekend, everyone!

Have you ever switched shoes due to injury?
What do you do when you need a mental health break? 

The Pursuit of Perfection

As you all know by now, I have been struggling with a nagging injury that forced me to actually (le gasp) take time off from running. Only once before have I taken significant time off (one week when I had ITBS while training for my first half). While I've been filling that void with cross-training, I'm still trying to come to terms with not following my training plan "perfectly."

Perfectionism is something I experience in other aspects of my life, but for some reason it's the worst when it comes to running. Perhaps it's because training plans are so defined that it's very easy to conceptualize what that perfection would look like ahead time - ie hitting every workout at the prescribed pace.

Now, I realize that if the RLRF authors were transported to my living room, they would not tell me to run through my injury and to take the necessary time to rest. That's pretty much what any sane person would say, too. The point of marathon training is to get to the start line healthy and rested, not battered and bruised.

While this makes perfect sense (pun intended), I'm still battling some mental demons that I've failed for not following the training plan to the T, even if my reasons are completely justifiable. I really admire those of you who are able to easily adapt your training plans or even take a rest day if needed without feeling guilty or bad.

I do want to take a moment to interject here that while this sounds like I'm straight on the road to being an obsessive exerciser, that honestly isn't the case - I have no desire to do one step more than what's on my training plan, and I get grumpy when training time eats into my kitty cuddling time. I have no interest in "over-achieving" at training.

I thought I was doing a pretty good job handling the lay-off. I did indulge in some self-pity and even a little bit of anger, but I still dragged my butt to the pool and the bike when I needed to. (Though even commercials showing people running are making me pretty angry at this point, so I think I'm approaching my limit.)

That is, I thought I was doing a good job until I started thinking of all the other training plans I could start now or in the future. It started innocently enough, with looking at Pftizinger's book I bought awhile ago and think I will be using later in the year. I do love to plan, so I assumed I was just reading about running to compensate for the lack of actual running.

Then other things started creeping in. I dug out my NROLFW book and had serious thoughts about restarting it, despite the fact I'm perfectly content with the circuit I'm doing twice a week at lunch and am happy with my strength. NROLFW would mean a lot more time in the gym and the danger of burning out.

I managed to put those thoughts aside, until I found myself checking to see if a tri book I've used in the past was checked into the library. I really like its swim plans, to be fair, but RLRF's swims are fine and, just like the lifting sessions, can easily be fit in at lunch and are making me happy.

My only conclusion was that I was looking to fill the void left by "failing" at RLRF. I was looking for some other regime I could start now and do perfectly. Obviously this is near impossible and just plain unnecessary. If I had to take serious time off running, either of these would be fine pursuits, but hopefully as you're reading this, I'm finishing up my first run back. I did a test lap at the track last week pain-free, so I have no reason to suspect I can't jump back in.

I'm honestly not very sure what to do about this problem, other than not give into the urges. I guess it's pretty obvious I'm very process-goal motivated, rather than result-goal motivated. I'd be disappointed if I didn't run a 4:30 at Myrtle Beach after training for it, but I wouldn't feel bad about it, assuming of course I tried my best. On the flip side, I could run the race of the millennium at Myrtle Beach and BQ, and I would still feel sad about the missed training runs - even though the result would be better.

Maybe this was the big lesson life wanted me to learn in 2014. At the very least, I think I learned a lot about what types of training my body can handle. Apparently I am at most risk of injury when dialing up the intensity too fast, but can run more miles than I think, as long as the pace is comfortable. I'm sure once I figure out all the details, I'll be able to follow a training plan more "perfectly," since it will start out tailored to my needs. I guess for now I will need to keep experimenting and learning, as frightening as that is for me!

How do you cope with adapting your training plan?
How did you figure out what type of training works best for you?

Run Less Run Faster: Week Ten

Finally - the last week of rest for my injury is done! The last few days I've been going a little stir crazy and had a growing irrational hatred of people I've seen out running. I can't wait to dive back in Tuesday!

Though, of course, we got about six inches of snow this weekend and temperatures are going to drop into the negatives. Thanks for sidelining me when it was 40 degrees, body. Oh well, I guess this just makes Myrtle Beach seem even more appealing!

Monday, December 29
700 yd swim


This swim consisted of 100 repeats and then some 50 repeats. It really made the time fly by.

Tuesday, December 30
11.1 mi spin
lift

I used the spin workouts in the RLRF book for the first time, grabbing the ones assigned to week 10. (The book provides swim, spin, and rowing workouts, so that you can choose whatever cross-training activity you want.) Man, I like to think my quads are pretty powerful from running, but spinning kicked my ass! And I wonder why the bike is my weakest sport. I am happy to report the bike is much less mind-numbing than the treadmill.

Wednesday, December 31
700 yd swim

It was fun to get in one last workout for 2014 before heading to Michael's parents' to celebrate the new year.

Thursday, January 1
rest


I switched up my rest day since I knew I wouldn't have access to a pool or bike on New Year's. But I did get my heart rate up cheering for MSU! I still can't believe we pulled that win out. I also spent a few minutes hating everyone able to do a resolution run to ring in 2015.

Friday, January 2
8.7 mi spin
lift

I took a long lunch in the middle of the day (almost no one was at the office) and just stayed later, so that I didn't have to worry about all the bikes being taken at the gym. (We have a perfect storm right now of students home from college, everyone from the closed gym under renovation, and the resolutioners.) This spin consisted of intervals, and I got a little vommy towards the end, but it felt awesome.

Saturday, January 3
700 yd swim
10.8 mi spin

I wasn't quite sure how to replace my long run, since all the cardio machines at my gym have a 45 minute time limit (!!!). I decided to combine a swim and spin and call it good. The time obviously wasn't equal to what my run would've been, but I still felt like I had worked hard when I was done.

Sunday, January 4
1 mi easy @ 12:24
Slow Flow Yoga

I felt like I was going insane with so many days off running, so I broke down and ran a quick mile in my neighborhood. There were some minor aches, but I think they were just my body re-adjusting to running, rather than the injury persisting. (Plus I had to run on snow and ice, so my gait was certainly altered a bit.)

I had gotten it into my head that I had a stress fracture (when I know quite well that it's just some minor inflammation from subconsciously flexing my feet while spinning), but doing a short run without my shin imploding made me feel much better.

Run Miles: 1 (awwwww yeah)
Bike Miles: 30.6
Swim Miles: 1.2  
Lifting Time: 44 mins
Yoga Time: 60 mins
Total Time: 5:05

I thought I had my plan figured out for this coming week, but I had to make some minor tweaks at the last minute, because my best friend came back from Georgia and I'm going to visit her next weekend! I'm super excited, considering I haven't seen her since August.

Blogger wouldn't let this photo be any smaller than X-Large, so it's even excited.

This is also going to be my busiest week of work of the year, so it will be nice to have something really fun to look forward to when I'm chained to my desk for a stupid amount of time. (Though, knock on wood, I had an incredibly productive day on Friday, and I might be in better shape than I think!)

But in any case, my plan is to run easy on Tuesday (instead of the presribed intervals), do the planned tempo run at MP Thursday, and modify the long run on Sunday to only 12 miles. I have these last three weeks to build before taper starts (where did the time go?!), and I'll still be able to fit in a 15 miler and a 20 miler.

My chiro was telling me a recent study showed that the net result of an injury is nothing. This means, assuming this study can be generalized to me, that in two weeks I'll be back to where I was fitness-wise, and then have an additional week to get a bit faster.

I'm hoping that my cross-training preserved more fitness than I think, and that I will come out ahead. But if I don't, I already felt pretty fit, so I'll just have to play it by ear. I believe Myrtle Beach has pace groups for 4:30 and 4:45, so I can still shoot for my original goal, but easily drop back if need be. While a 26 minute PR would be amazing, I won't say no to 11 minutes either!