Confession

I have not run at all since Tuesday. I am pretending this is ok because I ran 13 miles on Tuesday. Really, there is nothing ok about it since I have a crazy intense half tomorrow. Oh well. I am also confessing that I don't even care. How bad is that? I think I have just succumbed to the fact that my time is going to be bad, I am going to be miserable and it will be my Personal Worst. Oh well!

1d11h51m

That is what the countdown clock is saying on the Mad Marathon website. To say that I am nervous would be an understatement.

My neighbor knocked on my door today to let me know that there are 1,200 people running in this race. That might not seem like a lot, but this is the first year of this race! There are professional runners coming from Kenya! Last I heard there were over 44 states representing! This is not a small town, small race anymore, in my mind. However, the more people there are, that means I have less of a chance being the last one to cross the finish line!

Misery loves company and I am very excited to be running this race with my mama friend! I am sure we will do MUCH better than what we are thinking in our minds but I think we are both on the same page with feeling burnt out.

I feel really burnt out from my long distance races I have been doing. I felt this way towards the end of last fall and I was only doing shorter 5k races. I feel like when I sign up for too many races I put too much pressure on myself and worry I am not improving fast enough and not where I should be - where I think I need to be - and I lose the fun part of running. I don't want to lose the fun. I love running, I love the escape and freedom I feel when I run. I love how when I am happy or frustrated or whatever mood I am in, I want to share it with running and I always come back from a run in a better place then when I started.

I think after Sunday I need to take a break from races for a bit. I love to run races but I just need to have some pressure free runs and to not feel like I HAVE to run 10 miles or I HAVE to do hill repeats. I WANT to WANT to do hill repeats or to run 10 miles. The moment anything feels like a chore or a job I lose the passion I once felt and I do not want to have that happen. Not with this! Chicago Runner Girl touched on this on her post the other day.

So as much fun as this and this look like it would be, I think I will pass on them for this year and hold out till next year. Besides, I have been saying I want my first full marathon to be KBCM next May. See you in 2012 Canada!

Racing Weight

I started reading Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald while I was on vacation. I started it actually a few nights before we were to leave and I left my book in Maine. I know, ding dong move or what? Anyways, I decided to re-order the book and with Amazon primes amazing shipping I got it in 2 days free shipping! AWESOME.


Back to the book, I started reading it, and haven't gotten too far into it yet, but I did read that when you are in the peak of your season, for runners its spring to fall with races, you should be at your lowest weight. Because of training, eating healthy you slim down in your peak season adn then you tend to gain 8% of your total weight back. So if your peak weight is 130 you would gain 8% of 130 in order to get your off season weight. Ok, I get it. Not a hard concept to grasp. Since your working harder, and eating better you would lose weight. Well, then I started looking at my weight chart and food journal - yes, I am crazy and write down my food and my weight daily. However, I have stopped doing this on a regular basis and my last entry was in April. However, I have also gained 5 lbs. Granted, I just got back from vacation where I wasn't running, and was eating crazily. BUT, I am also in the peak of my "season" and should be losing, not gaining weight.

SO, as my blog, and my blogger friends are my witness, I am going to try to get back to my "racing weight" or what I think my racing weight should be. I have noticed since gaining some weight and eating not so healthy my average min/mi time has also gone up. I attributed this to the heat, however, it could definitely have been impacted by my weight gain. SO, I am going to try to lose the weight and slim down to my "fighting" weight. Hopefully this will be gained by increasing my training - incorporating speed work and hills once a week like I have been saying I am going to do! It will also be watching my diet - lower the sugar intake and the portion sizes! I hope to keep you all informed of my progress and who knows, maybe spark some interest and get some people to join in with me to find their "racing weight!"

Long overdue sweat session

10 miles - sssllloooowww

Alan and I originally were planning on coming home from Maine today, but due to weather and just being bored and ready to leave we left a day early and came home yesterday. I had already taken the 5th off and figured a one day stay-cation would be nice. I got up with Alan and walked him to work with SWP and then I left sans Sirius and headed towards the waterfront bike path. It was super hot and I took it REAL slow. Like pathetically slow. Anyways, I went 3.5 miles and then headed back to pick Sirius up from Alan's work and then the two of us walked home for a total of 10 miles. 3 of those were walking but I need all the mileage I can get!

I did take a hillier route along the bike path though. You, locals, are probably thinking - a hillier bike path option? there is no such thing. Well there is. I went along the bike path, hopped off and went up battery street and then down depot back onto the bike path. On the way back I went up Depot (for those not from around this area it is basically a sheer cliff that you have to scale up. They close it to traffic because it is so steep!) and then ran down battery. It was so hot and humid and I was so sweaty and gross and felt like I was dying 90% of my whole run which makes me so nervous for this weekends half. I usually get nervous for any race but I just repeat to myself, trust your training. Well, I can't do that this time because I don't trust my training and I don't trust that I did all that needed to be done in order to be prepared. Oh well. It will be a PW (personal worst) and that is just what is going to happen. It will be 13.1 miles longer than I would have run on Sunday if I hadn't signed up and aren't we all about fitness and miles around here? That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I'm Back

I have been gone since last Saturday and during my vacation I tried to run. I really, really did. The road that the camp was on was about 1 mile round trip and it got boring running up and down, back and forth 10 times. I tried to go on the main road but the speed limit was 55mph and there was no shoulder. I ventured out once and it was scary. The drivers were crazy and the hills were even more insane. Alan and I found one bike path / atv trail that was 14 miles long point to point but it was so insanely buggy that we only went there once and left with 2495802984 bug bites. All in all I did the best I could. Well, that's a lie. The best I could would have been to suck up the bug bites or the boringness and to run on the road back and forth the miles that I needed. That didn't happen so I guess I didn't do my best. I did 7 miles Saturday before I left and total while I was gone I managed 15 miles. Ouch. That does not bode well for my 1/2 on Sunday. I took tomorrow off from work and I am hoping to do a long run. It will be only 5 days before my race but I think it will be fine if I do a little under 10. I hope! I need a good run to boost my confidence.

Last Run

7 miles / 1:02:35

We are leaving today and the car ride is about 4 hours. Alan thought it would be best (for his own sanity) if I got up and took Sirius on a run so that the two of us were tired and got our energy out for the day. I think he is trying to tell me that Sirius and I are sometimes too much. How rude.

To be the nice wife that I am, I got up early, got ready and we hit the trail, err the bike path. It was a pretty slow start and the miles seemed to take forever. I felt like I was going at a snails pace. Definitely not breaking any records with my run today. However, I got 7 miles in, and Sirius is passed out on the floor so I guess I did my job!

Now I need to shower and load up the car. I hope it doesn't rain the whole ride up because I really want to stop at the Dog Chapel and walk around a bit with SWP. We shall see though!

Have a great week and a great holiday weekend next weekend!

Bon Voyage

I am heading off to Maine in the morning. I will be gone until the 6th. Have no fear, I will be running while I am away, however I will not be blogging while I am away. I hope I remember all my miles that I run!

Have a great 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!