Perseverance or Denial??

(Written Thursday 9/9/10)

I woke up at 4 feeling like half of my face/head had been filled in with cement.  (I think my sinuses are trying to tell me something.)  As I was going about my usual morning "routine", I saw a post on Facebook that really spoke to me:

per·se·ver·ance /ˌpɜrsəˈvɪərəns/ - noun. 1. Steady persistence in a course of action in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

I made the decision to PERSEVERE despite discouragement and go out for a run before the sun graced the sky with light.  (It helped that I also saw another post saying how "beautiful" it was outside this morning.)  I should have checked the weather instead of taking someone's Facebook word for it...  When I walked outside, the air felt thicker than my nasal passages.  I thought I was going to have to take a machete with me on the run to make a path through the air it was so thick.  (I found out later, the humidity was 95%!!)  Again, I made the decision to PERSEVERE despite the obstacle.

I started running, remembering to behave in accordance with a decision previously made....and "everything" hurt.  I haven't had that sensation in a while.  With the very first footfall I knew it was NOT going to be a feel-good run.  It was at that point that I was extremely grateful to have seen the post.

per·se·ver·ance /ˌpɜrsəˈvɪərəns/ - noun. 1. Steady persistence in a course of action in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Yeah, yeah....okay.  I determined to persist despite the discouragement I was feeling.  I couldn't breath.  I hurt (not like an injury hurt, but like a whiny child complaining about being forced to do chores).  And...my conversation with Daisy the other day (the one I haven't talked about yet) came back to mind.  (I'll post on that as soon as I have it all processed in my head.  Well, that might take a while, I'll say I'll post on that soon.)

Anyway...I jogged slowly trying to keep in mind that once I got warmed up it WOULD feel better...at least that's what I was trying to tell myself.  On my marathon training plan, today's run was supposed to be 30 minutes and include some speedwork in the middle 10.  So, I obliged and did some intervals of faster running with 30 seconds walking in between.  ((That isn't really what the plan called for, really I was supposed to speed up for the middle 10 with a steady, faster, pace...but I knew that wasn't going to happen today, so I did what I think is the next best thing.))

After 10 minutes, I slowed down for a 10 minute cool down.  That was the best part of the run.  What's really funny is that I thought I had slowed down to the same pace I had started with in the warm up....but, no, actually, I sped up by a little over a minute a mile!!  Not only that, my "sprints" got progressively faster each time in that middle 10 minutes.   

THAT is the power of speed work....and hills for that matter.

When it was over, I was glad I had done it....but it still didn't feel good.

Thanks for stopping in, come again soon!
:D

Drill Sergeant Daisy!!

I wish I knew how to photo shop-I'd totally put a picture of a sweet daisy wearing a drill sergeant's hat!

But...alas, I can't, so this will have to do!


If you will remember, the last time I went for a trail run with Daisy, she pretty much laid down the law with me and told me I would NOT be walking the next time.  (That's not really what she said, but that's what it sounded like through my "filter" if you know what I mean.)  Well...as usual, I was worried.  I have had one really great trail run out there with her, but that felt like a fluke really. 

Almost as soon as we started today, I felt like I might be in trouble.  I wasn't hurting, but it wasn't feeling great the way it had that one really good day.  We made it to the section I usually psych myself out on and I got worried.... so, I started telling a life story.

Let me pause here and say, anyone who knows me knows how I love to tell life stories.  I'll pretty much tell you anything about myself that you care to hear, maybe some things you really don't care to hear!  I am who I am, and, although I might be completely ashamed of some of the things I've done in my past-I'm not ashamed of who I am right now in my life.  Daisy said something one time that I completely agree with--our life experiences don't make us who we are, they reveal who we are.  I have learned from (most of) my mistakes, so I'll boldly tell you about them because there's no sense in hiding.

Anyway, I told her I was just going to blather on about something because it seems to help me not think about the running.  She said it was a good thing because she was not having an easy time of it.  REALLY?  SERIOUSLY??  It always shocks me when I hear a seasoned runner say that.  I don't know why, but it does.  It's usually strangely comforting, but not today.  Today it seemed to kick in the "I have to walk now" mantra in my head.  I kept telling myself I just needed to get a little bit further---and then I saw the end of the trail.  Remember, it's "six minutes" from the end of the trail to the parking lot (on pavement).  But, from the point where you can see the end of the trail to the pavement is about 75-100 feet or so.  I tried to tell her I was going to walk to the end....

And that's when it happened.

Sweet Daisy busted out "the hat" and practically screamed, "NO YOU WILL NOT WALK".  (Well, that's what it sounded like in my head anyway...it was probably something more like, "no, you can do it, keep on running, you don't need to walk.")  So I thought, okay...it's just SEVEN minutes (instead of six) to the car.  When we got out on the road, I don't honestly know if I kept on talking or not.  Most likely I did, but I was on auto pilot.  I'm pretty sure my mouth kept making sound come out, but I don't remember anything I said.  The good news is, she probably had no clue either since I'm sure no human being could have understood me through my gasping, huffing and puffing. 

We made it all the way to the "incline" and I thought, "there's no way I'm going to make it up this hill".  The day we had such a great run, I was almost able to "sprint" the incline.  The day I "had to walk" to the pavement (the last time we ran the trail), I was able to "sprint" up that hill incline.....but today I was seriously thinking about taking a short cut up a little trail that cuts out that daunting little incline.  But, I knew I would really regret it if I did.  Instead, I started slowing down about 1/2 way up (it's only about 150'--maybe...I don't know, today it seemed like it was a mile long stretch of Mt Everest!)....and she did it again...she morphed into Drill Sgt. Olsen (my DS from basic)...and said "YOU WILL RUN UP THIS HILL, PRIVATE...YOU WILL NOT STOP UNTIL YOU GET TO THE TOP."  (Again, that's what my brain heard.)

And...I almost did...I stopped just shy of the parking lot.  She turned around and said, "you're there, don't stop now!" and I started up again to finish the last 10' or so.    I really thought today was going to be the day I would lose my breakfast....but no.  I don't know I'm capable of running so hard I puke.  I've heard a lot of people (including Daisy) talk about doing that, but I just don't think I have it in me to push myself that hard.  I almost want to do it, at least just once, to know what that feels like....to push myself that hard.  But, I don't even give myself time to think about it.  Like today, I just pull on the brakes and before I even know what's happening, I'm stopping.

Naturally, I forgot my Garmin again...but Daisy timed us at 37:59 (our fastest time up there so far....at least we think it was faster than the other day when neither of us had a watch and neither of us looked at the time when we left).

Here's the thing--I've had other runs that felt better to me (like the other day up there when I didn't feel like I had to walk at all).  I've had other runs that my body felt really good start to finish, and I felt like I could keep running for days.  But....today felt really good for another reason.  I started this run feeling like I wanted to walk (before we had even gone a mile).  There were several times I thought I wasn't going to be able to finish, much less keep running.  Each time I had to force myself to keep going....but not in a mean spirited way.  Usually the "drill sergeant" voice inside my head is not so nice to me...but today it was more encouraging than anything else.  Tough, but encouraging.  Twice Daisy had to be that voice for me...she didn't make any bones about her expectation for me, and she also didn't give me an out.

I'm not happy that I feel like I let myself down by trying to walk once, and then stopping short of the finish.  But, I did it, even though I didn't FEEL like it.  I'm really thankful I was with Drill Sergeant Daisy today, to keep me going for a White Trail PR!!

Afterward we had a great conversation about my goal to run the Rocket City marathon in December...but I'll leave that for another post.

Thanks for stopping in, come again real soon!
:D

Is WALK a 4-Letter Word??

I heard an interview with Jeff Galloway on my all-time favorite podcast ever The Marathon Show (the show in general is my favorite, not that specific interview).  He basically says you HAVE to take walk breaks. 

Really?

But, what if I want to train to (eventually) run a full marathon?  Isn't the point to push my body just a little farther than it wants to go each time so that (eventually) I will be running 26.2 miles, or more for that matter.  Everything I've read about ultras say walk breaks-early and often-are the name of the game for ultra running.  (Yes, I am already thinking about what comes after Rocket City....)   I can somewhat understand that...but, if I train doing a walk/run interval, won't that keep me stuck in that cycle forever?  I think it's just like if you never do any speed work you can't really hope to get any faster.  (((I have heard that doing hill repeats and simply increasing your mileage will have allow you to be able to run faster in shorter distances.)))

Well....all week my legs have felt just on the verge of injury.  Call me paranoid, but that's one thing I'm going to make sure I do everything I can to avoid-injury.   Add to that feeling the fact I ended up driving 19 out of 48 hours over the weekend, on less than 6 hours of sleep in the same amount of time....and you have me not wanting to do a long run Saturday.  Instead, I took a nap, ate a good dinner, and then went to bed really early.  Sunday morning I woke up ready to hit the road....but my legs were begging for mercy.

So, I decided I'd listen to Galloway and see what happened.  Before I even put on my shoes I finalized my route and my plan.  I previously mapped out a 10 mile out and back from my house (it's incredible to me that in just three short months I'm planning on running 2.5 times that distance!!).  I arbitrarily decided to do a 3 minute run/1 minute walk interval with a five minute walk for a warm up and cool down.  (I wanted that walk to warm up because, I'm not kidding when I say my legs were not ready to get cranked up and I knew walking would allow them to get with the program.)

When I stepped outside to GORGEOUS weather, my first inclination was to throw the plan out the window and just take off running.  But I reasoned with myself that at least a walk/run interval would allow me to slow down and fully enjoy the experience.  At the end of my first 3 minute run it was all I could do to walk.  Okay, at the end of EVERY run interval (until about the sixth or maybe seventh mile) I wanted to keep running.

A funny thing happened though.  I was just sure all that walking would severely slow me down.  In fact, I planned on having 13:00 miles.  But, I kept noticing my splits were well under that (even the first one where I walked a full five minutes was right at 13:00.)   I slowed down the last couple of miles...by that point, I was so ready to be home.  The beautiful weather had started feeling really hot.  (Note to self--start earlier next time.)  And, I had run out of water.  (I'm getting a bigger water bottle TONIGHT, compliments of Fleet Feet Huntsville because I'm mentoring NOBO--thank you very much to them!) 

When I got back and uploaded my Garmin data I was shocked at my split times, but even more shocked at my run interval pacing.   (I wish I knew how to import a table...)  Here are my times--the first number is the total time, the second is my best pace for that mile.

1. 13:03/10:29
2. 11:49/10:05
3. 12:03/10:05
4. 11:11/9:23
5. 11:14/9:14
6. 11:13/9:49
7. 12:05/9:44
8. 12:23/10:31
9. 12:38/9:56
10. 13:15/9:03 (remember I walked 5 minutes, or more of this last mile)

Average moving pace 12:06, best pace over all was 9:03 in mile 10.  But, compare that with last week's 8 miler:

1. 12:06/10:26
2. 12:31/10:18
3. 11:42/8:23
4. 11:56/9:59
5. 11:28/9:50
6. 11:16/8:10
7. 11:16/9:52
8. 11:06/5:10  (we sprinted in at the end)

Average moving pace of 11:37, best pace 5:10 in mile 8.

I think the biggest difference is something not captured by the Garmin.  My legs feel completely fine so far today.  (Well, not "completely" but they feel fine.)  I think the real test will be when I go out tonight to run with NOBO, and then tomorrow with Daisy.

I just don't know.  To walk or not to walk.  The thing is, like I've said before--opinions are like brains, everyone has one but some are just more useful than others!  I don't want to walk, but at the same time,  I want to run further without getting injured.  I keep hearing that I shouldn't be training to run a marathon since I just started in January, and battled an injury early on.  But, I've also been told if I plan on doing a run/walk interval from the start then I'll be perfectly fine.  The way I see it, I could either spend less time running and build up slowly, or increase my distance by incorporating strategic walk breaks...with the eventual goal of phasing them out completely.

What do you think?  Is WALK a four letter word or should I embrace the idea?

Thanks for stopping in, come again soon!
:D