Wednesday, May 30, 2012

May Milestones

I realize May still has one more day in it, but tomorrow is just another scheduled speed workout. 10x400 - a feat in itself, but no milestone for this girl.

I did have two huge running milestones this month, well, this week!

On saturday 5/26 I ran a PDR of 14.25 miles in just shy of 3 hours! It was a huge sweat fest, but I did it! i finished it with sopping wet shoes and a shirt that had gained ten pounds. I did the first 5.2 outside. it was unbelievably humid. I'd been prepping mentally for this long run all week and didn't want to have to cut it short due to heat/dehydration/not yet being adjusted to these ridiculous early summer temps here in upstate NY! So I changed my clothes (a necessity, I was soaked) and headed to the gym where I proceeded to sweat like crazy for the rest of the run. At the end of the second hour I was feeling really solid! The damn treadmills stop every 60 minutes, so getting going again was tough. But I hung in there and resisted the urge to fist pump as my distance crept past the half marathon mark!

My second milestone came this morning. It was just a quick (and speedy) run of 2.75 miles (time was crunched due to my badassness during p90x). However, those miles took me to my first 100 mile month of life! WOO! Today I had no qualms about how excited I was on the TM. I was smiling like a fool. I mean, come ON, 100 miles!!! ONE HUNDRED MILES. IN ONE MONTH.

I feel like I'm a "real" runner now. Part of a special group. I also thought it was kind of funny because toward the end of my miles today a girl hopped on the TM to my right - she often runs next to me. I think she likes it because I'm generally running at a slower pace than her (not today). But, as I stepped off the TM this morning i grinned and thought to myself - you may always be running 9:xx miles, sweetheart, but did you run 100 of them this month? BOOM!

So, it turns out i'm still pretty excited about my running accomplishments. hehe.

2.5 weeks to Lake Placid. Let's get it!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

longer long runs

In previous half marathon training cycles, I've capped my longest long run at 12 miles. This time, I'm planning to exceed the half marathon distance in training to 1. be better prepared and 2. get a small taste of the "next step"

This week's long run was 12.33 miles. Not significantly longer than previous training cycles, but still. It counts. I meant to do 13, but I misjudged how long my loops were. I'm still very satisfied with 12.33 miles. They were tough, but solid miles. And I was sore the next day. I haven't been sore after a long run in several weeks, so it felt good to push it.

It would be nice if it would stop heating up so fast in the mornings (20 degree difference between start and finish, not ideal). But, i'll survive. I just keep telling myself this will make me a stronger runner.

Some time this weekend i'll be pushing it to 14-15 miles. I'm a little nervous, but I have confidence. Just. Keep. Running.

Let's get it in folks. Marathon training is approaching in just a few short weeks!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Jumping the Gun

Well, last post I wrote tons of positive affirmations about going after my PDR this weekend (current PDR is 13.1). However, I jumped the gun. I've always planned to hit 15 miles during the training for the Lake Placid Half. However, I took a more laid back approach to my training this time (to avoid too much structure/mental burnout) by not writing down a stringent plan and as a result, I didn't realize that if I did 15 this weekend, I'd effectively spend the next 3 weeks tapering, which is the opposite of what I wanted to do this cycle. So, probs no PDR this weekend (maybe by a few tenths of a mile, we'll see.)

I am still thinking positively about seriously kicking this run's ass. What is good about not trying to hit a PDR this weekend, is that last weekend I aimed for 13 miles and failed miserably. So I get a do over! yay! I've got a better outlook, and slightly cooler morning temps. Plans to get on the road about two hours earlier than last week. And BV has offered to pit-crew me if I need it! :) Doesn't get much better than that!

Yesterday I did my very first double run day! Not necessarily by design, but definitely on purpose. I didn't go into this cycle planning on double days, but the Workforce Challenge was yesterday after work, and I had an itch to get a few miles in yesterday morning (plus my upper body was pretty sore from my first p90x workout, ouch). So I did 2.5 in the morning and 3.5 "race" in the afternoon. The race was great, it's really laid back, get together with coworkers and run as a team. I do believe they have these races all over the place - usually referred to as "corporate challenge" but in Albany, we have a focus on politics and with an absurd number of public employees, "workforce" was deemed more politically correct. blah blah.

Anyway, 3.5 miles with about 9300 people. I wasn't aiming to break any records, just an easy peasy negative split running along with BV who snuck up on me just after the first mile :) It was fun to run a race actually with someone! I must say it was also pretty cool to be in a race environment, and not feel like endurance death is taking over. This was the shortest distance I've "raced" since my very first 5k in September 2010! It was a beautiful day, and the serious downhill at the end is just the way everyone wants to finish their workday :)

Double day yesterday also kept me on track for possibly hitting 100!!!! miles for the month! I really hope it pans out, May seems like a really nice month to hit 100 miles, as opposed to my next most likely month of August - which is sure to be a sweat-fest.

Happy Friday, everyone. This weekend I'll be sure to post a long run recap, and stay on the blogging train! Gotta get my chops back before marathon training begins :)

Monday, May 14, 2012

Annnd, I'm back

I've taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging. A fair bit has happened since my last post - for example, I finished my second master's degree! woo! it had been hanging out there for a while, I just needed to complete the thesis, and I finally got the kick in the arse I needed and finished it up. So, originally, blogging to a back seat to being a responsible adult (boring.)

But then, I started to get a bit down on myself about my running. Admittedly, I'm still more or less in that funk. Initially I wasn't *too* upset after the half marathon on April 1 didn't go as well as planned. I knew I was under-trained for the hills, and I also didn't have a good mental game going in. Unfortunately, for the most part, my mental game hasn't gotten too much better. I did have a super good run on May 5th, where I killed 10.5 miles at what would be a half marathon PR pace. I also spectated BV running the New Jersey marathon and witnessed him taking FIFTY EIGHT minutes off of his marathon time in SEVEN months. Talk about inspiring. However, this past weekend's long run sucked - I was dehydrated, it was much warmer than it has been for previous long runs. And, despite the fact that I have another half (on a familiar course) before I even formally begin full marathon training, I'm already scared out of my wits about it, and I keep pestering myself with self-doubt.

So I've been avoiding blogging, because every time I see blogger pop up in my browser, I recall some sucky run i've had, or think I will have, and avoid it.

Then, literally like 2 minutes before I started this post, I recalled that I've had some rough patches with mental toughness before... and blogging has always helped, not hurt the issue. So, time to stop avoiding and start confronting. This weekend's long run will be a PDR. It WILL be. I will not wimp out and stop before the end. I've got a 5 mile loop that I love, and I will complete it three times. I WILL. I may employ a run-walk method for it. But no matter what I do, I won't stop after the second loop. I won't cut back early on the third loop. I'll embrace those rolling hills two miles into the loop with style.

I've been doing a bit of reading on mental toughness and focus, so I'm going to be employing some positive thinking tactics all week. I'm going to envision myself killing it on this long run from now till sunday. That should help get me in the right frame of mind for this long run. I will start my run early because it is going to be WARM. I will hydrate all weekend. I will do awesome... right?

Ugh, see what I mean?!