6 Weeks and Counting Down Until Disney Marathon

December 8, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Oh crap, where has the time gone? Between the move, my daughter’s second birthday, the holidays, and all else I totally didn’t realize that I only have six weeks before Disney!

My highest run so far was 14 miles last weekend. This weekend I did 11.5 but was having some stomach issues. So now I have to do 16.5 next weekend, hopefully 19.5 the following, taper for two weeks and then THE RACE.

Oh man! I hope I am ready.

I also hope we can get there okay. We have to stay somewhere, probably with family, but I have to leave for the race at 4 since it starts at a bright and early 6 AM! Then I want the family to see me finish so they have to show up.

Probably not the BEST idea to plan this so soon after moving across the country to a new house lol!

I’m excited about it now, but nervous and scared. And I need new shoes but there are no running stores in this small town and the local small shoe stores don’t sell the Pro Grid Guide, which is the shoe I love and need and want and have to have. I tried to order it online after spending two hours at the mall today trying to find it but could not get a whopping size 10! So, I’ll spend tomorrow shopping around./

For now, I have to get some sleep. I need to do at least 4 miles tomorrow morning.  SHould do five but think will move the five miles up to Wednesday instead.

Happy Running!

Filed Under: Long Distance Running, Training for a Marathon Tagged With: , , , ,

From Bad to Good, and Bunions Suck

October 4, 2008 By 4 Comments

Once upon a time there was a runner (that’s me!) She ate a lot of pasta and ice cream on Friday night, went to be at 9:30 and thought that by doing all of this she would have a great Saturday morning run.

After eating, she felt like this:

This runner has a love of distances and always looks forward to going each Saturday.

Yet this Saturday morning, something had changed. As she stood on her tiptoes and peered out of the bathroom window to see what the weather was like outside, and she saw the darkened sky and the fog that had been creeping over the Pacific throughout the night, she thought this:

“Maybe I should stop doing all of these distances.”

Where did this doubt come from?

As she stepped out into the cold morning, she thought, “I’ll just do six miles.”

She’d eaten a half peanut butter sandwich, loaded up with her Gatorades and Fig Newtons, but realized she’d forgotten her Ipod.

“That’s okay, ” she told the stars, “I’m not going that far.”

So she ran. And she ran and she ran and she ran. She ran like she had wings.

She ran like a Super Hero (only with smaller breasts).

Eleven miles later, when she returned home, she wondered why she had doubted her long distances at all.

The End.

How does this happen? How is it that you can start a run feeling like crap and then, somehow, somewhere, it changes?

I don’t wake up feeling like I don’t want to run. I never feel this way. I love running. It’s my life. I read a story about this guy in Runner’s World last month who had his leg amputated because he could no longer run. Now he can run. At first I thought, holy crap! I don’t know if I could have that nerve!

Then I thought, On the other hand, imagine a life with no running.

I don’t know what happened with all the self doubts this morning, but I’m glad it all got turned around during the run. I had a GREAT run. I could have done 13, which is what I was going to initially do, but decided to get back a bit early and see how the family was doing.

And they were fine.

Husband was up, kids were up, and all was good in the home.

No more doubts. The weight, I have to deal with that. It is my nemesis. I know that it is frustrating to be overweight, but it is also frustrating to be underweight. Yet I was thinking today, I bet everyone is frustrated about their body, somehow, something that bothers them. The key is to live with what I have and make the most of it. To learn to accept it and move on.

Bunion Surgery:
I had bunion surgery on both feet about 15 years ago. I wasn’t running then. Active, but not jogging or running.

The pain from surgery was excruciating. I’d almost rather have another C section than go through that again, except then I’d have to take care of another baby and I’m not sure I have the energy for that lol! At least with a C section I was given pain meds.

With bunion surgery I was sent home with Tylenol and codeine. Now, I am not a medicine popper. I don’t take ibuprofen for headaches, Motrin for cramps or cold medication when I have a sneezy nose. I don’t take any medicine, ever. Unless I’m in excruciating pain.

Cutting open foot, removing part of bone, stitching back up = excruciating pain. Wanted meds.

Anyway, the last few long runs I’ve had I’ve noticed a pain in my right foot where the bunion was. When I visited the foot doctor the last time I trained because my toe was going numb, he said, “Wow, you really have some large bunions.”

“I had them removed when I was about 24.”

He shook his head. “Well, I wouldn’t say they did the best job. If they don’t hurt your okay. If they start to hurt you may have to have another surgery.”

Needless to say, I’m ignoring the pain. I don’t want to go through surgery again. I’d rather eat glass. So, let’s just hope this is a distance thing, getting used to going farther (even though I am staying around the same mileage), and that my feet will adapt and overcome.

Mileage:
I’ve been at the same long distances, between 9 and 11 miles, for about a month now. I like it here. I think I’m going to try to keep my long distance runs at 10 miles at least, in the double digits, so that when we get to Georgia I can start training from there for the Disney marathon. Then, I’d ultimately like to remain at these numbers for good, so that when other races come up I can start training from there. Plus, I really enjoy runs lasting about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Over that and it’s hard to get up early enough to get home early enough.

Anyway, those are my Saturday stories and I’m sticking to them. I got in a nice hour long nap while everyone rested and now I’m taking the girls to the park for some swinging and sand play. It is cold here, so I can’t wait to wrap up under the covers tonight and watch some good TV with the husband man. Hope you are all having a great weekend. Stay fit!

Filed Under: Long Distance Running, October 2008, Reflections on Running, Training for a Marathon Tagged With: , , ,

Mini-Tri, Stretching and Why Can’t I Master that Flip?!

October 2, 2008 By Leave a Comment

This morning’s workout went well. I did a two mile run, but spent the second mile doing sprint training. I have to start sprinting and then continuing to run at a slower pace in order to keep my body used to going faster.

I did a bike ride next, going for six miles. I tackled the hill I ran yesterday and it was a heckuva lot easier to run up than bike up!

Came home, had coffee and breakfast, then headed to the gym with the girls. I did a thirty minute swim and then sprinted for about five minutes or so, resting in between 25 and 50 meters. I worked on form, and I think I am doing better with the continuous motion even when breathing that I realized I was having trouble with the other day (Thanks again Shirley!)

Today’s Stretch: Legs

As a runner I often get tight muscles, particularly in my hamstrings, as well as some knee pain when I do too many squats (which I probably shouldn’t be doing at all but simply can’t give up!) So, I do this stretch after my runs and also when I do my yoga routine at night to help stretch out my legs.

Place hands flat against a wall. Extend arms so that they are straight (don’t lock elbows). Place legs behind your body, so that you are pushing against the wall. Your legs will be about four feet from wall or so. Stretch! Do both legs together and then work one leg at a time. Remember, though, don’t stretch until your muscles are WARM. So, if you are going to stretch BEFORE a run, then do a three to five minute warm up job before you begin stretching. I generally stretch after a run and then in the evening with my yoga routine.

Swim Flip:
What the heck? I practiced today. I’m too afraid to get so close to the wall. I got it partially down. No longer do I get water up my nose and sputter and come up flailing like a dying fish, but I just can’t get close enough to the wall to push off, and then when I did at last, I couldn’t remember if I was supposed to immediately turn over or swim upside down for a bit!

I guess I’ve got a ways to go on this!

Filed Under: Biking/Cycling, exercises, October 2008, Swimming, Thursday's Stretch, Training for a Marathon, Triathlon Training Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Keeping the Weight Up

September 14, 2008 By 2 Comments

So, I know this will not be the most popular post of all times. I know that some people feel that those who can’t keep weight ON have it easy – but, that’s really not true.

I am one who has had trouble throughout the years with keeping a good weight (meaning not being too thin). I think the issue has a few underlying causes: first, I have a very high metabolism; second, I am and have always been really active; and third, I don’t really take the time to count calories the way that I should.

When I start training for distances, my weight instantly drops. In the past I didn’t pay much attention to this but, let me tell you, once you get close to forty you don’t want to be uber-thin. Wrinkles show much easier when you are older and skinnier.

Actually, much like friends of mine who have been unhappy with an extra ten or twenty pounds, I am unhappy having to always work on keeping my weight up.

So, now this has become a concentrated effort on my part. As I train for this next marathon, I need to make certain I keep my weight steady.

For some reason, in Georgia on our house hunting trip I lost a few pounds. I don’t know if it was the heat, the humidity, or the fact that I got so sick that day. Since being home, I have not done any long runs (I was supposed to do 11 yesterday morning but since the wee one was sick I did only 4 miles). Still, my weight has not gotten back to pre-Georgia weight and is hovering at 134. I was at 135, but in all reality wouldn’t mind going up a few more pounds.

I thought I’d keep a journal of all I eat and how much I exercise to see what I can do to increase my weight at least by four or five pounds. Maybe keeping track of it will make me more able to see what it is I need to be doing to push that weight up. I know I could always add a high-caloric snack or two a day, but in all honesty I’m not a sweets eater, so that is tough. I also don’t like red meat, and generally eat fish or chicken, and some meals keep vegetarian with lots of beans. The beans make up my protein but, of course, don’t add a lot of fat or calories to the meal.

So, here goes my attempt at food journaling. I have been bad about this in the past, but this is my goal.

According to my Garmin, I burned 1880 calories last week running and 1600 some this week running. I haven’t been swimming and biking, so that would add another 300-600 calories burned per week.

I have found that Sparkpeople.com really is a great way to keep track of calories, so that is how I am going to do this. I’ll list my foods that I eat and the exercises I do here, and I’ll keep track of calories by using Sparkpeople to add them up. I have a tendency to snack all day here and there, a handful of nuts, a banana, a hard boiled egg, so I’ll try to be really careful to write it all down so I have an accurate account.

I’m wondering if any other people out there who have this same issue – keeping weight up with a highly active training schedule – can offer some advice as well.

So far today, which is my day off from exercise, I have had:

Breakfast:
bowl of oatmeal at Cornery Bakery (strawberries, bananas, apples, oh yum!)
piece of rye toast
two cups of hot java!
few bites of cinnamon muffin

Snack:
Homemade apple sauce (my daughters and I made it today after watching a show the other day where they made it – it was yummy!)

Lunch:
Turkey and cheese sandwich, cup or so of grapes

Snack:
Banana with peanut butter

Dinner:
Chicken breast (grilled) sandwich
fresh tomatoes and basil from garden (yum!)
fresh cucumbers from garden
carrots
french fries

UPDATED:
I put in my food for the day at Spark People and this is what I found:

I ate a total of 2,267 calories today.
345 carbs/68 fat/ 86 protein
This breaks down to : 59% carbs, 14% proteins, 26% fat.

I probably had a bit more than this, as I know I snacked on a handful of nuts here and there, but without having a chance to write everything down as I do it, it is hard to go back and remember.

So, to maintain my weight I would need to remain around 1500-1800 calories. To gain a pound, I’d have to add 250 calories each day to that amount, 3,500 calories per week, or around 2000 or so per day.

The issue is that I always burn at least 250 a day and most days much more-anywhere from 300 (half hour run or swim) to at this time in training 1,100 (11 mile run). I just don’t know how to get those extra calories in the diet. I already eat constantly as it is!

I wound up doing my ab and arm exercises today because I am hoping to get up early tomorrow and do a seven mile run (or so). With that I doubt I will have time to come home and do abs and arms. No cardio today, other than playing soccer with the girls! And that wore me out!

Now, I’m off to bed. We have had such a busy week with the sick wee one that I need some rest!

Filed Under: food journal, Health and Running, Long Distance Running, Nutrition, Training for a Marathon Tagged With: , , , , ,

I’m Back, and With One Scary Southern Run Under My Belt

September 6, 2008 By 3 Comments

You may have noticed I have been on hiatus.

MIA.

In South Georgia, on a house hunting expedition, as we prepare for our cross country move. We spent eleven days there, and they were jam packed days in which we got little sleep, trudged from house to house for four days in a row, suffered a lot from the three hour time difference and, thankfully, found a house that we absolutely love! Yes! We did it! We found a house!

The home is in great shape but needs some TLC as it was a bank owned property, but here is the view from our backyard! When we get the front yard cleaned up I’ll post a photo of it.

Here is a photo of our girls as we walked along the St Mary’s Historical area downtown.

We are back in So Cal now for seven weeks and then we will begin the next part of our life. It starts with a cross country drive, car loaded down, kids strapped in their seats! Now, that will be one to write about!

So I had a scary run experience while there. I felt fine starting off at 5 AM, one 17 oz bottle of water, one of Gatorade, some bagel in my stomach, a power bar in my pack. My goal: 8 miles.

I felt the humidity as soon as I stepped outside but I was committed to staying hydrated by drinking those two bottles during the run. I started drinking immediately.

About two miles in I met a guy that has run marathons in 42 states. He belongs to the 50 marathons in 50 states club. I have not looked into it yet, as I had no internet access at the condo where we stayed, but as soon as I do I will post some info. It sounds like fun.

Anyway, my stomach began to rumble about 3 miles into the run. I knew I wouldn’t make it the 8. Even the guy who lived in South Carolina said it was hot, so I knew it must be, and I have always had a sensitivity to the heat so I have to be careful when it gets really hot. Yet he had only one bottle of water, I had two bottles of liquid, and I felt prepared.

At mile 6 I told him I couldn’t go any further. I didn’t feel sick, just tired and hot and I really had to go to the bathroom.

And go I did. I won’t go into any gory details, but if you run distances you know what I’m talking about.

I was so hot I stripped down between trips to the toilet and put some water on my head. I ate a bowl of oatmeal, though I felt like puking, and I guzzled large amounts of liquids to replenish myself.

But I couldn’t stop going to the bathroom. Finally I took a cold shower, tried to eat some pretzels, which I could barely swallow, and laid down again.

We had to go house hunting and I didn’t want to miss the three houses that were first, and that were also located near our condo, so I made it down to the car but I told my husband I might not make it much further. He suggested I stay home but I didn’t want to miss it. I felt very tired, and had a hard time keeping my eyes open. Eventually, I came around some. By nighttime I felt fine.

The next day, while walking down the stairs of our new house, I pulled a muscle in my leg.

Let’s just say that the heat and humidity obviously got to me. I was not only overly hot but then I became dehydrated, and the dehydration caused the sickness to get worse and then the muscle pull the next day.

I think of myself as a smart runner. I had already run in that area a few times, so this wasn’t my first run in the humidity, and I didn’t even feel that sick while running; I just had to go to the bathroom.

It scared me so much that I took tentative runs the rest of the time. The muscle pull got better a few days later. I did a three miler and then a four miler before we left. They went fine.

I think part of the problem was that I didn’t hydrate myself as much as i should have the day before I ran. Once we get there I think I will have to make a really conscious effort of drinking tons of liquid the night before a long run in the humidity. I did go for the run at the early morning time I always do, but it was still hot, hot, hot.

Despite that run, and that scare, the rest of the runs were great. I missed having my weights and my exercise ball and particularly my kettlebell! I did my situps and crunches and push ups but they just didn’t feel the same! I’m glad to be back home with all of my tools. The condo didn’t have a great yoga place either. My new house: Perfect! I can do it right in the living room overlooking the marsh. I can’t wait!

I hope everyone has been healthy and having fun and having good runs. I have some weight to make up. I lost about four pounds, and I’m sure that part of that was how sick I got. I need to get that weight back on, so chocolate, here I come! Today I did a nine miler, and it was great. It was cool here, with some mist over the ocean. It’s going to be hard to leave this weather behind, the coolness of the early mornings, but I can’t wait to get to where we are going, either!

Happy Running!

Filed Under: Health and Running, January 2008, Long Distance Running, Racing, Reflections on Running, September 2008, Training for a Marathon Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Exercising in the Heat? How to Know You are Taking in the Right Amount of Liquid

August 18, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I see a lot of people posting about running or taking up a running program during the brutally hot days of summer. Many have questions regarding running and exercising in the heat. Since many marathon programs run for about five months, those embarking on this journey are now beginning to train for endurance, which means covering a lot of miles when the days are at their hottest.

I always run in the early morning hours, typically starting before the sun even peeks over the mountains. It’s nice and cool, traffic isn’t ridiculous and I can get some quiet time, alone, just to think.

Yet I do see people out running in midday, when temperatures to me are soaring. But then again, anything over 75 to me is hot!

If you are wondering how to tell whether or not you have lost too much liquid during a workout, here’s a good rule to follow:

Weigh yourself before you go out, and then again when you get back. If you lost more than a pound, you aren’t getting enough to drink.

How much should you be drinking?
7-10 ounces of liquid every ten to fifteen minutes during a longer endurance run. If you are going far, shoot for something with a mix (6%) of sugar to keep the energy levels up.

Afterwards, continue to drink, consuming up to 20 ounces of liquid for every pound you lost while you ran.

Seem like a lot? Possibly so, but your body needs to stay hydrated.

So here’s the thing: I began thinking about this over the weekend, when I had the horrid run on Saturday. I have been tired lately, more tired than usual. And yes, I’m a working mother of two daughters under the age of four, but I also get plenty of rest and I eat well. I take a multivitamin since I’ve been known to run low on iron. I do yoga every night to unwind and relax before bed. So, what the heck was going on, I wondered?

Then Chris of Fab, Fit and 40 commented about the dehydration aspect and I thought, bingo! Immediately I knew that this was probably the case. Why?

First of all, I drink too much coffee-about three cups a day. Two in the morning, one in the early afternoon. Sometimes I even have another half somewhere during the day. Coffee has been a staple of mine for a very long time. My family drank tons of it, putting on a pot in the morning and running one throughout the entire day. I love the smell and I love the taste. Ironically, I don’t like the effects when I have had too much. I’m pretty sensitive to caffeine.

Secondly, I’m not drinking enough when I run. I do drink, I make sure of it, and I generally pound a drink when I get home, a 16 ouncer after a run. But take this morning. I didn’t take a bottle of water along with me and I went five miles. I was really hot and sweaty and thirsty when I got back, so I am now pounding a 16 oz water as I type.

I weighed myself before I left the house this morning to see if I was right. I wanted to test out my theory. I was 140 when I left; I was 137.6 when I got back. So, I lost 2.4 pounds during my 5 mile run, which was definitely too much to lose.

I have to make this a better goal. I’ve decided to replace my afternoon cup of coffee with a cup of tea. I enjoy something warm while I’m working, so I don’t want to give that up completely, but a cup of decaf lemon would be good, hot and not caffeinated.

I’m also going to start wearing my belt when I run on those four to five milers during the week. I’ll take along a water so I know I get enough, and make a point to drink every 10 minutes.

On the weekends, I guess it means guzzling more fluids, and maybe switching from water to Gatorade for a while, until the heat dies down. I don’t really like the sugary fluids. I generally use gel packs, but maybe the heat calls for something more than plain water.

When I went out last weekend, the bad run that I had difficulty finishing (and that I only completed 8 miles of instead of 9), I didn’t weigh myself before, but when I got back I was at a very low 134.5. Now, I haven’t seen 134 in ages, so I knew something was up. I didn’t equate it to losing too much liquid, but I did spend the day drinking tons of water.

So that is my goal this week: Get in the fluids. Avoid the caffeine more. Cut back on the coffee, two mugs a day max. Drink more when running.

If you are concerned about your liquid loss during a session, check your weight before and after, and make sure you are getting enough to keep your body healthy! Signs of dehydration include thirst, dizziness, chills, loss of energy. And if you are at the point of feeling dizzy, sit down and rest and drink. If you are at the point of chills, get medical attention immediately.

Stay safe!

Happy Running Trails . . .

Filed Under: August 2008, Health and Running, Long Distance Running, Training for a Marathon Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Out of Curiousity . . . How Long Were You a Runner Before Trying Your First Distance Race?

August 17, 2008 By 1 Comment

I was thinking this morning about the fact that many of the fastest women in races are in my age category – over 30.

I was wondering about the readers here who are running longer distances – at least 10K races, if not halfs and fulls.

How long were you a runner before you began doing distances?

I started running about 12 years ago. I started off with 5Ks. I did some longer runs for a while, but when I started going too far too fast and got hurt I stopped, and I didn’t pick up longer distances until after the birth of my first daughter.

After her birth and before my second daughter blessed our lives I miscarried. Not only was it a bad emotional experience, but it was a bad physical one as well that left me in the hospital overnight and in bed for quite a few days. I almost required a blood transfusion. The fear on my husband’s face that first night stopped me cold, as he is so strong that I always rely on him to hold me up when I am scared.

A few weeks later, numb and recovering, I started running again.

Four months following the miscarriage, after having not run at all during the two month pregnancy, I finished my first half marathon.

The rest, as they say, is history.

It took about ten years for me to decide that my casual jogging was actually more than that.

How long did it take you to go from your first jog to your first endurance race?

And what do you think pushed you to do so?

In Lance Armstrongs book that i just read, It’s Not About the Bike, he talks about how endurance athletes generally have gone through something and are running (figuratively) from something.

Maybe this is how it starts. We have a bad experience and then we run, run, run. Or ride, ride, ride.

Do you know what propelled you forward? Was it a life changing event, or was it just the next gradual step from running a 5K?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and your reasonings. We all have those very long times on the pavement when we can think, and so I’m sure that these thoughts have, at some point in training, crossed your mind. If you’d like to share, we’d like to read!

Filed Under: August 2008, Reflections on Running, Training for a Marathon Tagged With: , , ,

Today’s Run: Partly Crappy with a Chance of Pain

August 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Oh! Today’s long run was horrid!

This rarely happens for me. I really love my distance runs. When I have a bad run, it’s typically mid week when I’m tired.

I think I might be fighting something. I have an ulcer on my lip, which is generally an indication that a virus has invaded my body. I never get sick-you know, puking, sneezing, coughing. It’ s a joke around here about how strong my immunity is to various things that my kids and husband pick up. Actually, my oldest daughter has an immune system like mine. But I do get ulcers.

I’ve also been dead tired these past two days. In fact, I didn’t train as hard this week, dropping my biking and swimming routine on Thursday and just keeping the twenty minutes, speed run with some ab work.

When I woke this morning after eight hours of sleep I knew it was going to be a dreaded run. In fact, I thought maybe I”d just do a few miles.

I did end up at eight, which was just one mile less than I wanted to run. My runs these past Saturdays have been:

9
9
11

Then today was 8.

Next week I hope to do 13, and then we will be traveling for a few weeks so I’ll do a shorter, maybe 8 miler again, and then maybe a 10 before my 15.

I actually hit a wall today, which never really happens for me. I put on my headphones right into the run, about a mile in, when normally that would come much, much later. I like to spend those first forty five minutes to an hour just thinking about things, and I can’t think when the music is blaring. But the music made the run more tolerable.

I turned around at four miles, just after stepping onto the beach, and headed home.

I have to figure out if I am fighting something or if I am not getting enough calories. So I’m going to start tracking my weight now, since I’m climbing up the mileage scale. I have a tendency to lose weight, to become over thin. I know that some people will read that and say, “Oh gees, let’s get out the violins,” but actually it is a problem. I don’t like to be too gaunt. I prefer a little meat on the bones. But when I get up in mileage, the meat sheds pretty quickly. I love to eat, so it’s not that I don’t put enough in, but perhaps i need to pick some higher fat choices this time around.

Today’s weight: 134.6 after breakfast. Now, yesterday’s weight was 135 pre-food, so I ate oatmeal with bananas and honey and a piece of toast for breakfast. Before my run, thinking I might go out and do the 13 today, I had half a bagel (well, half of a half) and then halfway into the run I had a gel pack.

I hate it that a long run turned crappy like that. I like to think back on those long runs and realize how much I enjoy getting out into the world, in the quiet of my mind, and just experiencing things.

Hopefully, next week’s thirteen will be much better!

Filed Under: August 2008, Long Distance Running, Reflections on Running, Training for a Marathon Tagged With:

Listening to Your Body

August 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment

It’s funny, but long distance running has taught me one thing: To listen to my body.

It’s not that I didn’t listen before. I did.

I just didn’t react.

Here’s a scenario. My knee hurt. I was running a few times a week a few miles at a time. I was addicted to running, having traded it in long ago for my one a day pack of cigarettes. I didn’t want to falter. So I didn’t slow down. Kept running. Hurt the knee. Out for quite some time.

Fast forward to when I began training for a marathon. My knee hurt. I cut back. Knee pain went away.

You see the difference?

I have always listened to my body. I have always heard what it had to say. However, now I finally have put two things together: If it hurts and I don’t take care of it, I don’t have it anymore. Or, at least, it doesn’t work as well as it did.

When training for a long run, I’ve become acutely aware of everything that is going on in my body. I can tell when I’m hungry long before the hunger pains strike. In fact, I eat now in advance. I eat when I wake up, before I get out of the door, on mornings when I’m running over an hour. If I’m going past one and a half hours I not only eat before I leave but I also take my preemptive slug of gel around forty five minutes so I won’t burn out at mile 13.

If my feet hurt when I am done with a run, I rest them. I put the tight shoes away and pull on the sneakers.

Now, when my body tells me something, I listen.

I’ve also gotten better at hearing what it has to say, which I think is because I am more in tune with my body when I’m out there going 12, 14, 16 miles at a time. I can feel my neck growing stiff from holding my arms at my sides, so I stretch them. I stop during a long run when my knee begins to twinge a bit and I stretch my legs out so it won’t hurt when I am done. I am so much more in tune to how I feel, to what my body feels, and to what will happen if I don’t care for myself, than I ever was.

Of course, this is mostly selfish on my part, I suppose. I don’t want to hurt myself so badly that I can’t get back out there and run again. If I hurt my knee, I won’t make the marathon. If I don’t eat, I’ll not have enough energy to kick it into high gear at the end of the race-whether I am racing others or just the clock.

How has long distance helped you relate to your body? Do you feel what it tells you more than you used to, and do you listen?

Filed Under: August 2008, Health and Running, Long Distance Running, Reflections on Running, Training for a Marathon Tagged With: , , ,

Vivid Sights on the Long Run

August 9, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I love long distance running.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say this over and over again. I just love the days that I get up early, load up my pack and head out into the early dawn-sometimes pre-dawn-day.

Today I spent my time thinking about so many different things and I made some discoveries on this run.

First, I discovered, or rediscovered, the vividness of everything after a long run. Does this happen to you? The sky, when blue, is the bluest it has every been. The green of leaves on the tree outside are so bright green it’s almost unbelievable. I know these things are always these colors, right? But why does everything seem so much brighter, so much more alive, when you finish an 11 miler?

Secondly, the body is an amazing machine. Seriously. You can train it to do almost anything you want it to do. I mean, you can run 26.2 miles or more! You just have to train. I thought of my body today as I ran, the way that it met that last marathon challenge and the way that I hope it meets this one. How is it that my feet can pound the pavement that long and still carry me around the rest of the day? That my arms can remain in the same position for 2 hours and not remain sore after the run? It is so true, that if we treat our bodies well, they will treat us well, and since we have to live in this shell for (hopefully) a really long time, I think its in our best interest to be kind to our body!

Thirdly, our minds are even more amazing than our bodies. It is our mind that says, “Okay, I’ve been running now for an hour and a half. I’m hot. I’m sweaty. I want something to eat-like a side of beef and a dozen eggs-but I’m gonna keep on going for a bit longer. When we train our minds to think positive thoughts, positive thoughts will follow. Don’t believe me? Train for a marathon. You can’t run 26.2 if you spend the entire time getting down on yourself, thinking you can’t do it.

The beautiful thing is this: If you train your mind to run long distances, you can train your mind to do anything. If you can stand the silence of being alone for this long of a time, you can do whatever it is that you want to do. I have yet to meet a runner with a negative attitude about life. Have you? Most runners really appreciate everything around them. I think that we learn to do this through our running, particularly in the distances, because we spend so much time training ourselves to think positively. We can make the finish line. We can do that last four mile stint before we get home. We can climb that obnoxious hill that suddenly jumped out in front of us.

I made one other startling discovery on this run. As I ran down the beach I stopped at a line of public restrooms to use the bathroom (damn long runs-that is the ONE negative thing I can say about them-I can’t get through them without having to GO!) I pushed the first few doors. Two were locked, and then the third swung open but stopped short. I looked down and saw a body on the floor. Yep, a body. Was it dead? I don’t know. I screamed, turned, and ran. I looked back and was not being followed. The door hadn’t reopened. Being alone and female, I was not about to go back and see if that guy was okay (and it was a guy, I think, from the state of the blue jeans). Instead, I hurried on. Living in a beach community, it’s not abnormal to find someone passed out somewhere along the beach. Thankfully it was daylight and there were other runners around, so I felt pretty safe. I couldn’t find someone to tell about the body though, as there weren’t any county workers or police there yet. So, I don’t know what happened to that guy, but I can tell you he scared the living daylights out of me this morning!

Filed Under: August 2008, Long Distance Running, Racing, Reflections on Running, Training for a Marathon Tagged With: , , , , ,
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