Filed under: The Race, Training Runs | Tags: days off, dreams, gu, long run, marathon, nerves, Rest Days, running, shoes, short run, Taper
I purchased new shorts and a lovely blue lightweight tech shirt for the race. I tried the shorts out on my last “long” run – eight miles – and, disappointingly, they rode up a little. Most shorts do that when I run, but with a predicted temperature of seventy-three degrees (most runners dress for temperatures twenty degrees warmer than the actual, so do the math on that one), I’m going to go with my capris. I don’t want to be picking cloth away from myself for nearly five hours.
My Asics should be broken in enough. I was thinking of using my Guides, but I’ve done my last three weeks of running in these shoes, so Asics it will be.
I’m having anxiety dreams: I fly to the wrong city. I wake up too late. I get injured at the start of the course. I’ve forgotten my running sneakers.
Lists are beginning to form in my mind: Gu packets. Shoes and clothes. Body glide. Ibuprofen. Socks. Ponytail holders. Headband. (I can’t find my stupid headband!) Course map for friends and family. Watch. Sunblock. Camera.
There are other things I can’t control that I must make myself stop worrying about. Weather’s a big one. I haven’t run in hot weather at all. Worse than that, though, is the idea of a race cancellation. The ten-day weather forecast predicts scattered thundershowers all weekend. I’ve seen those Midwestern storms, and I’ve seen that lightning. It’s out of my hands, I know, but please, please let there be decent weather. I don’t know what I would do if these nine months were all for nothing.
I’ve gotten myself worked up, though, so it’s time to calm down. That’s what the Taper is for: recovery, relaxation, mental preparation. You hardly run, you eat a lot, you try not to obsess.
Six days.
Filed under: Longest Run Ever, Training Runs | Tags: healing, injuries, off day, running, running routes, shoes, struggle, winter
Yesterday I ran seventeen miles, give or take. I think it might have been a bit too long – though it is also possible I ran more than seventeen miles, because I got a little lost, and my phone, on which I had installed a temporary GPS device, died at mile fourteen.
Sorry for the run-on sentence (hee). I feel quite accomplished that I even finished the seventeen-miler, and I’ve been told I shouldn’t be upset about a bad run, especially since, you know, most people DRIVE that distance to get where they need to go, and complain about the commute time.
The thing is…it hurt, and not a healthy, worn-out way. When I stopped running, my ankles, feet, toes, and knees were throbbing. Admittedly, this week had some variables – most of them my fault – that I hadn’t dealt with since starting my running plan: I didn’t cross-train the day before the run, it was twelve degrees outside, iced tea is NOT proper hydration, my shoes are due for a replacement, I worked six days last week, I finished the route by estimating the time it would take to run three miles on my watch, my paces were WAY out of wack, etcetera…I know, get the violins out for a weep.
Variables or not, though, I’m not risking actual injury by running next weekend’s twenty-miler. At the most, I’ll repeat this week and try to accomplish higher-quality runs. All too clearly do I remember the achilles injury that cost me six months of running in graduate school. Much as I wanted to, I wasn’t ready to run those 6.5 miles after three weeks of training, and I’m similarly not ready to run twenty miles right now.
I’m feeling much better today, though that blasted tendon still aches just a tad. Here’s to an easy week and a quick recovery.
Filed under: Training Runs | Tags: good day, healing, injuries, running, shoes, short run
I’ve been running every other day this week, taking it very easy. The left heel is feeling better this morning; for the past few days, it’s been displaying symptoms uncomfortably reminiscent of plantar fasciitis. Hopefully my new, clean shoes will eliminate it quickly.
I’m actually about to head out for a four-miler right now. I just wanted to quickly update this blog, as I’ve been quite bad about it. I should also mention that it is not only the running that is improving quickly. Day by day, things have been getting easier. I can’t believe that I’ve already come this far, that I can wake up in the mornings with a smile on my face again, that little things make me laugh, that I can enjoy the company of friends and the sound of music, that I can see couples on the street without feeling resentful.
He’ll always be a part of me, but when I woke up this morning, I realized with surprise that the crippling, gut-wrenching pain was gone.
I’m moving on.
Filed under: Rest Days, Training Runs | Tags: apparel, days off, endorphins, gross, injuries, running, shoes, winter
I went for a run in my FREE (!!!) new Craft base layer yesterday. It was 40 degrees out and I was positively hot. Working at a running store sure has its perks, and I’m not as afraid of winter running as I was a couple of months ago. Did I mention that the shirt is purple?
I love running into people I know on runs. (That was a slightly strange sentence grammatically, but I’m going to keep it.) On the way to a friend’s, I met a guy I went to school with, who seemed shocked out of his mind to see me. I guess I haven’t really told everyone I’m back yet. And the other day, I ran into a coworker who was just starting her twelve-miler.
I still have some slight heel pain, probably from running in my year-old Asics. Hopefully my dog-doo-free Veronas will fix that problem within the week. It’s kind of sad that I was SO lazy that I risked injury instead of cleaning the shoes. On the other hand, the dog doo was REALLY gross!
I will definitely have to be careful during the next couple of weeks. I’m ridiculously happy to be out again, and I tend to get overexcited and do too much when that happens. We’ll keep it at fours and fives for now, and then…the real training will begin!
