Second Things Second*

This is going to be a slightly different post and not sure why. I think I’m just a bit tired of people commenting one two things: the first is how I look and the second is how to running.

The first is that I have a fairly runner-like body. Not quite the same as someone who runs distance professionally (years of skating and hurdling will never allow my legs to tiny like theirs) but I’m petite I suppose. And that is both built on luck (metabolism and genetics) and work. When people talk about stuff like being in shape who are not built like me, they tend to always infer that I don’t know what it’s like to work at looking like I do. Perhaps, if I “gave up” I wouldn’t ever find myself obese, but I certainly would gain weight and not run what I run. But people don’t seem to understand that or how much work I put into my fitness. I find it frustrating because it’s not something I can really complain about be it truly in sort of a firstworldproblem but it’s still something that bothers me. I work hard and I take pride in my hard work and what it results in.

And the second sort of ties into the first. The same people who tend to say that I don’t understand a daily food and workout battle are also telling me how to run, how to eat, what exercises they do and why what I do isn’t necessary the best,  I usually stare at them and give them my blinkblink look. Here’s the deal: everyone is different and what works for one may not work for the other person. But what works for me is working for me thankyouverymuch so please don’t offer unsolicited advice unless I ask or am paying you.

So where I usually try to keep this blog focused on my running and the good, hard, etc side of that, I’ve been in a fairly Bad Mood Base for a bit and felt like a rant.

In other news though, I did SIGN UP FOR BAYSTATE 2018. bring in Boston 2020.

*Don’t you tell me what you think that I could be

Just a Young Gun*

And we’re off to our first speed work out week which included doing a tempo or threshold AND speed. Some part of me wonders if I’m too old for this. I have been trying to do a week where I run four days instead of the three so that when Marathon Time rolls around I’m used to that. I hope that I don’t wear myself out, but like with a race, sometimes you just have to push and hope (and of course, be safe and careful). I also worked 6 days including the Expo which...ooof. Definitely too old for THAT. I do like that know I can tell people I ran a marathon there, though, and feel like I belong in that crew and, in some selfish ways, maybe belong more than some (sorry, super rude).

So anyway... my threshold with run club went well. I did three miles at 7:59; 7:40 and 7:22 with a goal of hitting around 7:45 (the 7:59 I was still with a friend so it would have been awkward to just take off although I did pick up the pace at the mile bell). And I also did the first speed workout which was 12x200 aiming for 49 seconds or a 6:30 pace. It wasn’t as hard as I feared, although still hard. I hit them (assuming my attempts at hitting 200 meters with my Garmin was close to right) in:

6:08
6:19
6:16
6:34
6:24
6:24
6:22
6:32
5:58 (this one had a watch bumble I think)
6:10
5:55
6:05

So, that’s pretty on if not faster. I’ve a,ways been fairly able to hit splits on sprints but I hope with this and the threshold and tempos, the combo will work. We shall see. All I know is that I think I need to stretch better and watch my work shoes some. My body can handle this, but I need to be smart about pushing it and the wear and tear especially as I want to work Orangetheory into this as well.

* I think this should be a question and not a statement

I’m the One at the Sail

Exciting time, this 2018 of running. After a PR in both of the 5Ks to start the year, I did a PR in my half marathon just this past Sunday!

I went into the Run the Border race hoping that I would be able to pull off a personal best. My goal has been to run a 1:45 which was a New Year’s resolution and about an eight minute mile pace. Over the last year or year and a half that has seem feasible if I just sort of sucked up and ran a half with that expectation.

To me, the issue with running a 1:45 half is that it would probably be uncomfortable and I thought there would be the good possibility of totally failing halfway in and slowing myself beyond what I’ve run in the past.  I knew that some part of me needed to be okay with the idea of falling apart in a race but that’s a hard thing to embrace. So with this race I thought why not give it ago although even mentally italic myself to maybe just an 8:15 pace using excuses like being sick and training in my head (blah blah blah).

 Lining up for the race it turned out to be a pretty good tailwind and because it was just down the border that tail one would be with us a majority of the time. It was colder than I expected but certainly not something beyond what I’ve rin and even this winter. So I least up got myself prepared and went out.

And lo and behold:

1:45:02!!

The tailwind definitely helped  propel my race to this time; however I will say that even though it was uncomfortable and I definitely had moments of wanting to stop it was not something that was insurmountable. It was something that I even upon finishing thought “I could maybe go faster”.That’s a pretty cool place to leave a new personal record especially going into my second attempt at a BQ.

In the end I got third in my age group and beat my best half marathon pace by four minutes or thereabouts. It was a pretty cool race and I like how I felt (not necessarily during it but after) and the thought that I could do better. It will/would take more work and focus but not something that seems entirely insane

Windows Rolled Down

It’s a new day and I’m waiting for my breakfast to digest before heading out for a 10 miler. I’m trying something new which is having an English muffin, some peanut butter, and a dab of jelly in lieu of my normal bar. Calories wise it’s about the same, but mass wise it’s more so I’m curious how this will go.

I also still have my head or chest or whatever cold which is seeming to not be better or worse. Just IS and it’s annoying. I’m hoping to hold back on the pace, not that I flew last week, but probably looking closer to 8:45 or 9:00 isn’t a bad thing right now.

Lay Me Down in a Bed of Roses

After a week vacation in which I was active, although only did one (island!) 5K, I am now finding myself off the street going on day two. It sucks and is one of the first times in a while that I remember taking time off because I felt sick (and not injured). I’m pretty sure I couldn’t run well even if I wanted so it’s relatively moot but it’s still weird. And I feel super lazy (and headachy). I’m just trying to keep in mind the fact that some off days doesn’t mean everything goes to crap. I have Easterns States on March 25th which may now be a tad off, it there’s always th next one and, maybe this one isn’t a lost cause just yet.

In other news: Baystate opens up today... let’s see when I make this commitment..

Dancing in the Dark

Sometimes I have to remember that unexpected off days (not entirely days off because those are different and can be avoided) will happen. Today we had snow/sleet/rain such that going on a run outside or at the gym was pretty much a no go. I bet I could have tried the gym but there is something to be said about being smart and not risking a Very Steep Hill for a 4 miler inside. So I took to SWORKIT and did about a 20 minute workout and am working on being okay with that. This one non-planned day is okay. And truthfully I could have fixed it with trying the hill or, more reasonably but not entirely, going in the early morning. But sometimes inaction is okay and won’t me much in the long run (pun only kind of intended).

I’ll Bring Thunder

Running without a plan can be difficult. I think that’s true for most people and I find myself generally wandering, trying to keep up miles, but not sure in what way. Is there are reason to strength train? Sure. Always. But it’s harder to motivate yourself if there isn’t a reason right there that you can cross off a day of work done and look at what’s next.

That being said, I’m doing okay this winter. I had a very exciting and successful go at frisbee in LA. I brought back so many warm memories and desires. I reminded me of who I once was and offered me a look at who I could be once again. Frisbee was Me for a very long time. I was (am?) good st it fairly naturally although with the younger players starting so much sooner if I began now it may have been different. But for when I played, I was good and brought talent to a team. With my two ACL replacements, five years apart, how I played changed and eventually stopped. There is a part of me that will always wonder what if and a part of me that will always be a little incompleteness at having that torn (yes pun intended) away from me without my consent. But stuff happens and you move on. Having played this beach tournament and been fairly competent on our team (I did get almost all the spirit awards/player awards) after not touching a frisbee for a year reminded me that maybe I could do this again.

But then I think and remember. The pain. The recovery. The loss of freedom. The lingering issues I still have and know that it’s never going to be the same and who knows what could happen. So I try to take that fire I had on a beach in LA that was born of so many other games, throws, victories and losses and bring it to my running. 

This may be who I am now. I will not be as good of a runner as I was a frisbee player but I can be good at this to my liking. I can win some things and I can win things for myself. I am finding satisfaction in this and trying to find more. It is lonelier than frisbee but there is a community and there is support. So, as winter drags and I wonder about motivation and what’s next, I try to think that EVERYTHING is next and that is something to work towards.

And if, once or twice a year, I get to play a game of frisbee and remember my youth and my love of that sport and be reminded who I was at a time and who I still am, that’s still something.