Tag Archives: marathon

Apr25

Bribery At the Edge of a Precipice

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Confession:  I have been TOTALLY unmotivated to run.  I don’t know why.  I see runners and I wish I were them.  I think fondly of running and how it makes me feel.  I know I SHOULD run.  The reality is, however, that I am struggling to make my self get up and run.  I could make excuses but none of them are worth the time it would take to make them. 

I feel like I’m at the edge of a precipice.  I’m at a crossroads.  I’m at a fork in the road.  Whatever the metaphor, this situation is not good.  I gotta s*#t or get off the pot.  I have got to make a decision.  The longer it takes to get back in to the swing of things, the harder I’m making it for myself. 

I want to run a marathon on October 21 and at this rate, I will NOT be in condition to do it. 

Do I really want to keep running?  I’m pretty sure I do.  Maybe the question is:  Am I willing to do what it takes?  So far, the answer is ‘no’.  I don’t know why.  I wish I did.

I can’t think of anything to do but bribe myself.  Is it bribery when it’s all internal?  Who knows, but here goes:  If I do all of my runs for the rest of this week and next, I’ll buy myself a new pair of shoes.  That’s just five runs.  I can do that…

Maybe I’ll call it an incentive.  My problem is that I can’t seem to get started and keep going for longer than a run or two.  This should help.  I’ve been intending to pick up a new pair of casual, every day shoes but now…  I am going to ‘earn’ them.  Has it really come to this?

Why, yes.  Yes, it has.

Ahhh…

 

Maybe I’ll get these:

Image

 

Apr10

Did You Miss Me?

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So… it’s been a while.  Dedeaux hasn’t been doing much running lately.  Okay…  Dedeaux hasn’t done ANY running lately.  Lots of stuff going on – lots of things to use as an excuse.

 

On my last post, I mentioned moving to a new state.  We’ve moved!  We officially moved from Allen, Texas to St. Louis, Missouri on April 6, 2012.  We are in temporary housing – a two bedroom apartment not far from where our REAL house will be.  We close on our new house on April 20.  I can’t wait. 

 

The new ‘space’ is nice enough.  It’s small but will do for a few weeks.  We apparently live below Bigfoot, though.  Lots of pounding around on the floors – at. all. times. of. the. day. and. night…  Not pleasant.

 

But on to RUNNING.  I HAVE decided that I will run the Rock-n-Roll St. Louis Marathon on October 21.  It is going to be HARD.  It is hilly here – really hilly.  I will need six months to be ready for a marathon here!! 

 

I walked fast for 3 miles this morning with the dog.  I’m glad I was just walking because I think I need to ease my knees back into running.  My left knee hurt a little bit from about 1/2 mile to 1-1/2 miles.  The road we were walking on was hilly and the downhills hurt the most.  The good thing is that I wasn’t even kind of tired.  It was beautiful here this morning – clear sky, cool and a little windy. 

 

My plan for tomorrow is run/walk.  Not sure how far.  Maybe 4-5 miles.  We’ll see.

 

I’m not saying I’m ‘back’ to running until I’m actually RUNNING but I’m on the way to being back and that’s a good thing!

Feb1

Making a List and Checking it…. SEVERAL times

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My very first marathon is only FIVE days away!  I am full of so many emotions:  excitement, fear, anxiety, nervousness…  I think these are going to be long days.

I am working on a list of all of the things I will need (or even MIGHT) need to take with me to Galveston.  There are great lists posted on the internet but none of them really lists all of the things that I need specific to me the sports tape, my contact lenses, etc. so I need to have my own.

Before I go further, here’s an update on weather updates:  I’ve only checked the weather in Galveston twice today.  It’s still not looking too good.  There’s a 40% chance of showers and the temps will be between 52 and 60 – so warm, muggy and possibly wet.

Back to my list.  I’m not sure what extra to pack for rain.  I’ve got a cheapie rain poncho (REALLY, REALLY THIN AND REALLY, REALLY CHEAP!), my visor and Body Glide (for which I usually substitute tape).  What else?  I wish there were a way to bring an extra pair of shoes but I don’t know that we should rely on my daughter (15 y/o) to meet us at a designated spot in the race to give us dry shoes.

Making sure I get my list together is really important, but the thing that I am most worried about is getting enough sleep.

TMI ALERT: 

So…  I am perimenopausal.

I DID ALERT YOU THAT THIS MIGHT BE TMI, RIGHT?? 

Some of the unfortunate symptoms that I have been having are night sweats, frequent urination (ugh) and inability to actually GO to sleep and STAY asleep.  I happened to have my annual ‘well woman’ check up yesterday.  My doctor suggested an OTC remedy that won’t work for me because it is soy based.  I’m allergic to soy.  (I know this because I’ve had the skin test.)  There is another OTC supplement that contains something called black cohash? but she admitted it might not be very effective for me.  I did get a prescription for low dose BC pills but can’t start taking those.  Not the right ‘time’ yet if you know what I mean.  So…  I wake up 5, 6, 7 times each night for various reasons:  it’s hot, now it’s cold, gotta ‘go’, just can’t sleep…

This is kind of stressful.  I wake up in the morning NOT feeling rested and sometimes in a bad mood because I don’t feel rested.  I am not sure to do.  Last night, I took an OTC sleep aid that didn’t really help.  I was awake for at least two hours after I took it.

Well, it’ll all work out – or it won’t.  We’ll see!

Jan29

Attitude & Effort

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There are only 7 more days until my first full marathon.  WOW!  It doesn’t seem exactly like YESTERDAY that I started training, but in the words of some old cliche maker:  Time flies when you’re having fun.  I confidently declared over a year ago that I was going to run a marathon.  I’m not sure how I made that decision, but I’ve been determined to follow through. 

A month after I made that declaration, my hips started hurting so much that I nearly stopped running.  Several visits to the Orthopedist, a couple of cortisone shots to the hip and knee, X-rays and an MRI later, it was determined that I needed knee surgery.  So after knee surgery, physical therapy , slow recovery and NINE months after my initial decision, I started ‘officially’ training for my first full marathon.

It’s been an interesting 18 weeks.  I’ve learned lots about myself and the people around me.  Some of it’s been great and some of it, I could have done without.  :-(   SURPRISE:  Some people don’t want you to be successful.  Some people are going to be jealous (yes…).  Some people just don’t get it.  That’s okay, though.  What I’ve gained from this far outweighs the few discouraging things.  More on those things in a later post.

Training is not over, yet.  My last week might be the most critical.  I’ve got to get my mind right!  Yesterday I was in the car with my husband and he had sports radio on.  I REALLY don’t get sports radio sometimes.  Seems like a bunch of people just rattling on and on about the same thing over and over…  (I’m getting sleepy thinking about it.)  BUT.   The point of this was that there was a man on who talked about attitude and effort.  He thought these were the two most important aspects of sports and I my husband and I agreed.  (The guy has a website in case you’d like to visit it: effortandattitude.org)  I started thinking about my own attitude and effort. 

Have I given this training my all?  Has my effort been worthy of the goal? I’ve often taken a few seconds to decide if I ‘gave it my all’ after a run.  Could I have done more?  I don’t mean I wonder if I could have run further or faster, but if I ran strong.  Did I use the run to focus on my form and my breathing or was I just dragging myself along any way I could?  Was there a purpose for each of my runs?  Was the effort that I put into each of my runs worth the time to do the run?  I guess the answer is ‘sometimes’.  No, I think ‘usually’.  Sometimes the only ‘effort’ could put into my run was to actually get out of the house and go.  Some runs were great:  focused and purposeful, tough.  All in all, I think my effort was worthy of the goal of finishing this marathon. 

How about my attitude?  Have I let myself get down, mad, sad, discouraged so much that it’s affected my outcome?  Have I pushed people away?  Have I made this l sport seem attractive to someone else with my attitude about it?  I know I’m not the official running ambassador, but I DO know that my attitude about it to a ‘non-runner’ might affect how they think about all runners.  More importantly though, have I had an attitude that would keep ME attracted to the sport, to my goal?  Have I second guessed myself too much?  Have I NOT taken criticism or questions about my training serious enough?  Have I poo-pooed an idea that maybe could have helped me?  Hmm…  I. don’t. think. so…  I’m going to work on something that my sister talked about and I’ve always been intrigued by:  Positive visualization.  This week, I am focusing on a vision of myself at the FINISH line with that FINISHER’S medal in hand.  I know I can get across that line.   Positive attitudes reap positive results. 

So, this is my very last week of training before my very first marathon.  I have three 3-mile runs left (Monday, Wednesday and Friday).  I’ve looked at the weather forecast for Galveston and the temp will be between 50-55 degrees with humidity between 70-76%.  So…  I’ll be REALLY focusing on HYDRATING as well as my glycogen stores this week.  I need to channel my inner child-that-grew-up-in-Houston this week to get ready for the humidity…  It’s all good, though.

I CAN DO THIS!!  OH, YES I CAN!

Nov2

What I Have Learned about Me

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These are the things that I have learned about myself in the past few weeks:

  • I hate waking up early but I also don’t like starting a run after about 7:30 am.  My disdain for running late overrides my love for extra sleep.  I feel MUCH better when I start running early.
  • I do not like running on the treadmill.  Okay, I already knew this.
  • If everything is not in place when I need it, I get off track and start procrastinating.  To get around this, I MUST get EVERYTHING that I need to run the next morning together at night.  Can’t find my earbuds:  an hour lost.  Can’t find my SPIBelt:  an hour lost.  (What’s a SPIBelt, you ask? Check it out here:  http://spibelt.com/?gclid=CMnens75mKwCFQLj7QodXB9VLg  IT IS NOT A FANNY PACK…  IT IS NOT A FANNY PACK…) Does it take me an hour to find these things?  No.  That’s just how long I can veer off track when I have to stop and look for something.  The computer starts calling my name as if the secrets to the location of my lost items lie within.
  • Running alone is harder than running with someone else.  I’ve run ‘long’ with others and alone.  I run a little slower with others (don’t know why) but it’s more of a struggle to keep going when I’m alone.  I need to get over this.  I’ll be running this marathon all by myself.
  • I am obsessed with this marathon.  Okay, so this is not new news.  I have an obsessive personality so it’s only fitting that the marathon has become a subject of obsession.  I wake up thinking about it.  I think about it all day long.  Every time I feel a little soreness or twinge of pain ANYWHERE, I wonder if it’s going to affect my next run.  I can’t walk past exercise wear without wondering what I’ll wear to run the marathon.  Every time I see a ’26.2′ sticker in a car window, I think I should hurry and buy myself one to make sure they don’t all sell out before I get one.  I’ve visited a hundred (seriously) sites about running marathons.  See…  I’m going on and on just thinking about being obsessed with the marathon.       Oh, well…  I guess after the marathon, I’ll move on to the next thing.

I’ve been running my runs according to my training schedule.  Today, I ran 3 miles at tempo pace (which for me is 12:00min/mile) this morning on the treadmill.  I felt pretty good.  I actually inched the speed up to 11:15 then 10:30 miles/min on the last mile.  It felt like I was sprinting.  I guess for ME, it was kinda like sprinting.  I wish I could run that fast again.  One day…  This week’s long run is 11 miles.  I’m nervous about it.  Not sure why.  I’ve run further than this before but it was PRE-knee surgery.  I guess that’s why I’m nervous.  Will my knee hold up?  I don’t have any indication that it won’t, but I’m still nervous. 

Here’s what this week holds (held) for me:

  1. Monday:  5 ‘easy’ miles on the street
  2. Tuesday:  4 miles at marathon pace (12:48 miles/min) on the treadmill
  3. Wednesday:  3 miles at tempo pace (varied between 12:00 and 10:30 miles/min) on the treadmill
  4. Thursday:  rest day
  5. Friday:  4 ‘easy’ miles
  6. Saturday:  11 miles on the street – I will be walking for 60 seconds every 1-1/2 miles
  7. Sunday:  rest day – in the bed!  ;-)

Total miles:  29 (Last week’s total miles:  27)

Oct28

I Changed My Mind About the Marathon

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6:40

Image by zharth via Flickr

Thursday night: 

Me:  What time is it daylight in the morning?

Husband:  Around 7:10

Me:  Oh, okay.  I’m gonna wake up and start running at 7:00.

Friday morning at 6:40 a.m.:

Alarm: Put a Ring On It – click to listen :-)

Me:  hit snooze

Repeat twice, then on third alarm, turn off… 

So, I woke up at 7:20.  It was daylight, by the way. 

I was not in the mood to run when I woke up.  To add to the frustration, I needed to be FINISHED running by 10 to do some other things that I’d scheduled.  Hmmm…..  I dragged myself around the house stalling at every chance possible until I decided to change plans and do my little errand BEFORE running.  Now, it gets harder and harder for me to get out and run the later it gets in the day so I’m not sure why I thought this schedule switch was a good idea.  Whatever.

While looking in the mirror to put my contacts in, I decided to quit training for the stupid marathon.  Who am I kidding?  I am dreading a run that isn’t even HALF of the marathon.  So, I quit.

Then, I decided to NOT quit.  I still have 3 months to train.  Of course I can’t run 26 miles today.  Duh!

So, I took care of my errand and came home to start my run at 9:35.  It was cold and the wind was blowing – in my face.  That was the crappy part.  On the bright side, the sky was clear, all of the schools had already started so there weren’t any buses or bikes or kids lined up waiting on the sidewalk – just me, myself and I.

The first couple of miles were tough – as usual.  I always start off sluggish and eventually get into a running rhythm.  My knee felt okay but my legs felt tight and stiff.  I decided to take a one minute walk break after every one and a half miles.  The marathon that I’m training for has water stations at the same spacing, so I figured I’d just get ready for it now.  After about two miles, I had to stop and stretch my legs a little bit.  It helped some but I was still tight.  Ugh.

I chugged along and finished the run just under 13 minutes per mile.  Not blazing, but I was happy.  I ran this long run faster than last week.

So, I still have 4 miles to run tomorrow.  (I switched my Friday and Saturday runs so I could participate in a 5K tomorrow.)

Here’s what my week has been like:

  • Monday:  5 miles
  • Tuesday:  4 miles (on my birthday!)
  • Wednesday:  4 miles
  • Thursday:  off
  • Friday:  10 miles
  • Saturday:  need to run 4 miles…

I am tired but glad to have made it to Friday again!  I’ve run 23 miles this week – pretty sure I can make it to 27 again.  Week 4:  done! (okay, almost…)

Next week – Week 5

  • Monday:  5
  • Tuesday:  6
  • Wednesday:  3
  • Friday:  4
  • Saturday:  11
Oct22

Double Digits and Week 2 Done

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Whew! I ran 27 miles this week. So, if there is ever a week-long marathon, I’m already ready! Last week, I had a little training lesson: I can’t run at all the day after a long run and I should follow the schedule as written. Got it.

This week, I did my runs as scheduled: 5 ‘easy’ (misleading…) miles on Monday, 4 miles Tuesday, 3 miles Wednesday, 5 miles Fridau and TEN MILES today! I ran TWENTY SEVEN miles this week.

Tuesday and Wednesday were treadmill miles and I ran faster those days. There’s something about the floor moving under you. If you don’t keep going at its pace, you fall off ;-) . The other days were pretty slow – ranging from about 12-1/2 minute miles to almost 14 minute miles.

How’s my knee? Today marks three months exactly since my knee surgery! It feels just okay. I can tell that my quad isn’t as strong as it should be, yet. Every once in a while, I feel like my knee is buckling and my quads not strong enough to stop it. Also, today after about 7 miles, it started to ache a little bit. It wasn’t so bad that I felt I should stop but just enough to remind me it’s there.

All in all, I feel good. My husband reminded me this morning that part of this training is to get me mentally prepared to run hours, and hours, and hours, and hours… It can beat you down and make you feel defeated.

I don’t feel defeated. I ran double digits today, 27 miles this week and that’s pretty dang good!!

 

UPDATE:  One day, I will learn to COUNT!  THIS WAS WEEK 3…  ;-)

 

Jul3

Conquer Your Enemies

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This morning I watched TV while I ran on the treadmill. We went to the gym later than we did last week and the tiny lady who’s my age wasn’t there – so I watched TV. After the hair product infomercial went off, a televangelist with a message just for me came on. “Conquer your enemies.”

I have no idea what the REAL message from the televangelist was, but I had plenty of time to make up one myself. What are MY enemies and how do I conquer them? What is holding me back on my journey to the marathon? I came up with a pretty lengthy list:

1. Pride: I am having such a hard time with my program partly because I feel I’ve taken a step back. I have already run a half marathon. Why am I hobbling through a 6 mile run this morning? I feel kinda embarrassed that I can’t just ‘gut it out’ and go looooooooong. I’ve done it before… (Okay – I know: that’s part of the reason I’m injured.)

2. Envy: I kept looking over at my husband’s treadmill as he inched further and further away from me. At my 1 mile, he’d run a mile and half. When I hit 4 miles, he was almost to 5. He’d lapped me FOUR times. I wish I could run as fast as him.

3. Laziness: I fight this monster every morning. I am not a morning person no matter how many times I get out of the bed pre-dawn to run. I would MUCH rather lie there until 8 or 9 and mosey downstairs and have some coffee and a bowl of cereal. Sometimes I wonder if my mind makes things hurt just enough to give me an excuse for not running.

4. Doubt: Hey – I can do this, right? uh… I’m not always so sure. This morning, 6 miles felt like a MILLION miles. How in the world am I going to run over FOUR TIMES THIS MUCH in December?

5. Greed: I love to eat. Do I need to say more?

So…. I’m not beating myself up or anything. I think when you confront the things that could keep you back, you are more prepared to overcome them.

Well, you know what my enemies are. How do I conquer them? Pray for strength and courage. Don’t listen to stupid or unhappy people. Psych myself out. That works more for my husband than it does for me, but I keep trying. Just keep plugging away daily. I get overwhelmed when I think about what I’m going to do in December, so I’ll just think about what I need to do this week.

And finally, I’ll keep writing about it. This helps me stay focused.

I forgot – one more thing: no more references to boobies or girlies. My daughter chastised me for doing something that I didn’t let my children do. I will be using proper names for body parts from now on. Parents are always teaching so I better set a good example!

I can surely do this!

Have a great week, yall :-)