I wish I wouldn't have waited so long to recap the weekend. I have definitely forgotten a lot of the details and what I wanted to get across here. What I do remember is the feeling that I get when I remember completing the Challenge and my first marathon. It was hard to get up so early every morning, to race on strained legs but as soon as I began, I felt this exhilaration that continues to rise when I think about my accomplishment. Sometimes, I will drive through Disney on the way to Orlando because it fills me with such great joy. My memory can best be recollected through the few moments that were captured throughout the weekend.
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The week before the Challenge is almost to a close and in five (5) short days the first day of this Dopey decision kicks off.
This week has come with a revelation and a dash of madness. I have been feeling a lot better. My shins feel smoother to the touch, my calves are nice and relaxed, and my ankles don't hurt. However, the pain around my left knee persisted and I felt a bit hopeless in fully recovering before the races. Nevertheless, I resolved to remain positive and visualize making it through each run and the exhilaration I will experience on Sunday. I believe in this type of thinking, if for anything, it keeps your mind determined to find a solution. Lo and behold, I did. I took to the Googles and searched for runner's knee pain. The search results that immediately came up where for IT band pain. The good news is that as long as the IT was being properly stretched, I could recover. I found these simple stretches (Shape, Through Heather's Looking Glass, and B-Ready) and as soon as I performed them, it was like finding the holy grail. After one day of stretching, I felt a marked improvement. I am going on three days of doing the stretches and feel better and better each day. It has been nice not to feel like the tin man--you take walking normally for granted until a tight IT band doesn't let you bend your knee. The other assistance with the IT band is strengthening the hips and quads. I was doing this up until the end of October but stopped because of fatigue. Now I am kicking myself for stopping. On top of stretching, I have begun taking Advil and using the Biofreeze more liberally to ease the remaining inflammation. The slightly discouraging news is that most people online reported they had to take six to eight weeks off to fully recover and begin running again. I will only have two and a half weeks of rest before I begin racing. I am trying to keep my mind positive and visualize making it through my races but those thoughts of feeling that debilitating pain at Disney creep in every so often. The only thing that keeps me on track is knowing I am feeling better and better each day and that by Thursday morning I see myself in my racing costume with a big smile, ready to be a part of something positive. At least, I don't feel alone. Many of the DC Facebook group members have reported stress injuries like mine and even real injuries just this week, like sprained and bruised ankles. Essentially, we are all going to be beat up and hopefully encourage each other to make it through. The other buzz going around the group is taper madness! Pretty much everyone is going nuts having to shift down on mileage or injured people like me that have had to stop running all together. Not running for two weeks has definitely made me nuts. All I think about is running and how lazy I feel not going for a run. I have gone out on walks this week but it is not the same. What has been getting me through is just planning for succeeding at the races. After all, that is the goal of all of this training--making it to the finish line. I have been inspired by the DC group members to put together some simple running costumes. I have also taken the time to draw up my nutrition plan for the week to help minimize my GI issues for the half and the full. Through these roadblocks, I still cannot contain my excitement that I get the chance to be part of this inaugural challenge and I will finally complete my goal of doing a marathon. These past two weeks of training have found me facing mental roadblocks and unexpected injury.
After a great half performance in Mt. Dora, I took the next two days off as I felt a little sore and did not want to push it. I knew I ran the half fairly hard due to the hills and needed the rest. I ran my tempo run that Thursday with a goal to do everyday to make sure I was used to running Thursday through Sunday for Dopey. The tempo run was good but I freaked out a little bit at the trail as I was running by myself in total darkness in the woods for the last mile or so. Totally my fault for not going out a half hour earlier but it was still a good run. I was starting to feel a bit hurt after the run so I did not do my easy miles on Friday but did the easy miles on Saturday on the elliptical. Although I have ran 16 miles before, for some reason I felt very nervous about it Saturday night and during the run. I cannot say with certainty that I have ever felt the butterflies in my stomach feeling before (I usually feel like I have to plop) but for the first time ever, I genuinely remember experiencing this. I do not know why, maybe because I realized how close Dopey was coming up, maybe because I realized I will be running 26 miles for the first time, but I just felt really nervous before and during the run. This hindered my performance greatly along with the realization of the season's necessary injury. I felt the discomfort in my ankles from the first steps but by mile 9 I was done. I had no choice but to finish as I was on the turn around but I could only run about .40 of each mile. It was by far the worst run I have experienced all season. I have had a few other fails but those were caused due to trial and error with nutrition; however, this was a complete mental and physical breakdown. The following morning after the run I woke up feeling like the Tin Man. I almost fell out of my bed as my legs were stiff and in pain, wishing they made WD-40 for human hinges. I started my stretching routine that evening and was completely shocked by how tight I was all over. I got on the roller and was not sure if my shins were made of bone or a mountain range and felt as if a thousand knots appeared on my calves and quads over night. I usually swear by the roller but I could feel it would not be able to reach those identifiable bumps. The solution was one of those hand-held self-massagers with the little balls. I took two days, focusing on my thighs and calves each day to begin feeling some real relief. Since Thursday, I have gone to the gym and done as many miles as I can, about 4 - 6, on the recumbent bike and doing a good stretch session afterwards. Little by little I have felt better each day and for the past couple of days I have felt my body doing its repair work--muscle spasms. Sometimes they are a bit uncomfortable but it makes me happy to know that I will feel a little bit better when I wake up the next morning. I am going to continue the routine for the next week and I hope by next Sunday I am feeling almost 100%. I am also planning to incorporate a few hip strength exercises if I feel well enough next week and some yoga days, at least for the Monday and Tuesday of the race week, to make sure I am as strong and limber as possible. Mentally, I felt a bit down that I had to taper a week early but on the flip side, I know that I have put in enough work that this extra-long taper is not going to hurt the progress I have made the last 15 weeks. At this point, the focus is to get to the start line and not feel hurt those four crucial days. I am just a bit worried that I have not tried out my new inserts. It is awesome that they are thinner than my other ones but I don't feel as if I have the same amount of arch support as I did with my other ones. I am just hoping that I can get in at least a 5k run before the race so I can know for sure. This is not something I want to find out on race day. I am however, going to try compression socks for recovery for the first time during the races. I have never wanted to make the investment as there is no science to back them up but a lot of people swear by them and I will need all the help I can to recover, particularly from the half to the full. I am still experiencing anxiety about the marathon; just looking at the course map gives me jitters. I am trying to hatch a good plan to get over the butterflies. I hope to come up with something to ease the fear within this week because I know that this mental anguish will ruin my marathon performance more than anything. Let's see what I come up with. Week 14 TrainingIt was a sketchy week of training. The failure after OUC left me a bit depressed. The thought of going for run had me somewhat scared. I ended up doing my strength run, one easy run, and my long run--the Mt. Dora Half recapped below. I had planned to do my tempo run, which next to my speed/strength days, is my favorite run. The plan was to get to school early for my 9:00 a.m. exam, turn in my take-home exam afterwards, and head home to prepare for an evening run. That was the plan. The reality was the exam actually started at 2 p.m. so I spent the morning turning in my exam, dealing with other obligations, getting in arguments, and wandering around East End Market for a few hours. This is when having Doc Brown as a friend would be an awesome reality. Surprisingly, my long run taking place at the Mt. Dora half marathon on Sunday did wonders to boost me out of the runner blues and make up for life's curve balls. Mt. Dora Half MarathonEverything about this half was an experience and I would dare to say this is my favorite half thus far. Morning Prep: I woke from the usual 4 hour sleep. Although I either sleep lightly or not at all before race day, this is the first time I actually fell asleep for a couple of hours and woke up from my typical deep, deep sleep. I know not to eat anything with last week's mistakes still fresh in my mind. I decide on my favorite half gear--black capris and black short-sleeve tech shirt. I slip on my shoes, put my contacts on, and start drinking water. I had picked up some Gatorade the night before for race hydration and fuel--no Nuun tabs this time. I prep my blender bottle for post race recovery. Everything is coming together smoothly and effortlessly until I reach for my watch. This is the moment the memory of the dead battery warnings from the finish line at OUC creep in. Now all I think about is my worst race experience ever which involved not having my watch. I plug it in although I have to leave in 10 minutes, praying the watch will miraculously fully charge by then. I try to put my mind off the issue by prepping my GPS and reviewing the parking map. By the time I have to leave, the watch has charged enough to stay on and tell me it's dying. I resolve to take it anyway and use it for the first three miles until I settle into my pace. However, there was still the problem of not knowing how to gauge my run/walk intervals. As I am walking out of my room defeated, I remember my cheap "heart rate" watch that's never been good for measuring my heart rate but whose stop watch has always come in handy. The little yellow watch saved the day. Getting there: I am going from one "country" county to another--Polk to Lake. These counties are next to each other so I can take the local roads to get there. It's 5:00 a.m. and dark. The roads that lead me to start line are lighted only by the travelers' headlights. I am already facing hardship driving until a monsoon gets thrown in the mix. All I could think was I am not making it and if I do, will there be a race with all of this rain? Pre Start Line: I make it to the site and find parking easily. I hurry to pick up my packet and put my bib on. Thankfully, everything was very well planned and I get in and out in minutes. I walk back to my car to put my packet away and do a shake out run on the way back. I get in line for the potty and thankfully there were plenty. I peed for what seemed 5 minutes straight but feel a little pressure. I don't have to go #2 but know I have some trapped gas and was hoping to release it before I started so I don't have a repeat of last week. I do this all with time to spare and relax. I am watching all of the runners and there is such great energy. Everyone is happy and excited. I was surprised to see plenty of kids, ages between 6 and 12, waiting to do the half marathon. I felt so inspired by those little ones. I think about all the training I do and all the races on my belt. It made me smile to think that such young kids could be so committed and excited about racing--particularly those that run with their parents. I saw a little picture in my mind's eye of my future running baby trotting along side me. The race is delayed about 10 minutes due to the rain. I look up and the 7:00 a.m. sky and can see a little bit of sunlight trying to pierce the heavy dark clouds. Was I about to run in a storm? Start Line and Race: There's no corrals but I find a good pocket. Someone yells that Bill Rodgers is out in front and everyone is in a frenzy over the news. We start at about 7:20. Everyone was able to find space to run fairly quickly. I knew from the elevation map sent out that the first three miles were going to be the worst. Curiously, the ascends were not terrible and there were more descends than expected. I take Galloway's advise and shorten my stride going up and down and slow myself down descending all to conserve energy. Unfortunately, that map did not prepare me for mile 4. I was running a roller coaster--the entire mile was hills. I make it but I am definitely feeling tired. I reach mile 5 and gauge that I am running 12 minute miles. I am trying to talk myself out of disappointment--I don't have my running watch and there is a lot of hills--the important thing is to finish and hey, it was prep for the hills at Disney. I kept feeling the pressure in my lower region. Thankfully there were plenty of potties along the way. I ask God to give me a stomach cramp to let me know if I should stop but not one came. I didn't feel sick but didn't want to all of a sudden feel I have to release my dinner without a place to do it in. Instead I spent mile 5 to mile 6 playing the butt trumpet, feeling a bit better. After a small hill in mile 5, the course plateaued and it was pretty smooth from there. I picked up the pace and was now running steady 11 minute miles. There were a lot of spectators from the neighborhood. They set up camp in their driveways, sipped coffee, clapped, whistled, and played Gonna Fly Now. It was great although sometimes as a lone runner you can get passed up for encouragement and even pictures. I noticed this at the half last week. This time, I decided to combat it by creating my own buzz. I cheerfully asked for encouragement and acted silly to get my picture taken. It worked but something must be done against single runner oppression. Just before mile 12 I saw the time had reached 2:15. I knew I wasn't going to reach my goal even before making it to Mt. Dora but to know that I was so close to hitting my goal even with all the hills made me feel hopeful and crushed my runner blues right then and there. At that moment I also realized that I was going to run under 2:30 and that made that last mile sweet. The last .10 was downhill so I let myself fly through the finish line at 2:28. I choked up and almost started crying. I didn't reach my PR goal again but I did PR, I did and felt better than last week by over 4 minutes running in hills, and I know that my goal is reachable--it might even come to fruition at Disney. Post-Race and Reflection: I did have to use the potty afterwards. The first round was ok but the second round was a doozy. I think I need to eat just a little bit earlier to make sure I can hit #2 before the race and be completely comfortable. However, the late eating was probably an exception due to a family social function.
My feet are so temperamental! The nail issues have subsided but the blister issue made an appearance in the form of a huge blood blister. Thankfully, I didn't feel it while I was running but was a huge surprise when I took my socks off. I am still having trouble controlling both things but overall, this year has been much better with both issues. No dead or black nails thanks to my runner's nail kit for at-home "surgery" and there hasn't been to much friction to cause the blisters. My plan was to bring an extra pair of socks to the marathon as I know the dampness of the socks will cause issues but I may have to do this for half's as well. Overall: This has been my favorite race. It was very well put together and it has been my best performance yet. TrainingI still have not been able to complete every single day of training but the training has been paying off. I am making sure to hit all of the important days--speed/strength runs, tempo runs, and long runs. I still try to do 1-2 easy runs but if my body is asking for rest, I would rather rest than injure myself and be completely side-swiped. I can see the gains even though I have not hit every day of training. I am hitting goal pace and surpassing it without much effort and the runs are actually enjoyable. A piece of training I was missing in my first half marathon training was knowing what pace to run each run. I have learned you cannot hit every run hard and there is actually a benefit to running slower and getting the miles in. Race day nutrition is still up in the air. I have learned to not be afraid of carbs to fuel my training. My stomach feels a bit swollen than usual but the way my body has felt with the proper amount of carbs in my body during a run is a way better feeling. The use of water for hydration is out and I have been using either Nuun tabs or Gatorade (Gatorade is preferred) to fuel my runs to give me the amount of salt and electrolytes I need which along with enough carbs to burn, has helped to fuel better runs in training. Now, the day of the race all of this wonderful knowledge and feelings go down the crapper--literally. I ran the OUC half marathon yesterday. I was on the road to meet my PR goal but my stomach ruined it all. Read below for the re-cap. OUC Orlando 1/2 Marathon RecapOUC half marathon: the road to 2:15 PR. I had been hitting the goal pace per mile consistently in training. I felt great after each run. There was nothing going to stop me...it was in the books. The race started and I was feeling great. The first mile is always tough because there are so many people around. After that I had enough space to run, I was running negative splits, and I could visualize the 2:15 clock time. Suddenly, a little over 5 miles and I felt like someone punched me in the stomach. I felt the cold sweat running down my spine. The road began to spin and blur. The nauseous feeling took over. A couple of minutes later I felt the throb in my intestines. I was confused--was my pre-race meal going to come out of my mouth or out of my...you know...nether region? Was I going to be embarrassed because I was going to throw up on myself or you know...release the pain in my north face capris? At this time, I had to face facts--I had to stop running. I had to fix this to finish the next half of this race. Unfortunately, in that 6 minute walk break were everyone is rushing past me I didn't throw up and I didn't...you know..the other thing. This was the beginning of ebbing waves of nausea and stomach pain that persisted until I finished. I was able to run again after that break but my mile times were never the same during the first half of the race. Once I was running with the 2:30 pace team I knew I was done. I kept trying to push past and be ok with at least beating my last race time of 2:31 and perhaps I could have run say, a 2:27 race, but I had to take another 6 minute walk break as I felt the icy grip of nausea take over a little after mile 9. I dry heaved this time but again, no release. All I could think about was rushing to my car after I finished to have an angry and shameful cry due to my body sabotaging me until I saw a woman a little past mile 11 gripping a medics hand while half-way strewn on the sidewalk, somewhere between passed out and some sense of consciousness. At that moment, I just felt grateful enough that I could push through and get that finisher's medal. I finished at 2:32 with the blistering 9:30 a.m. sun on me, wondering what I needed to do to fuel up properly for the next race. Looking back, even with the 3 hour digestion time, I know my body better than to eat without completely digesting. Next race, I am sticking with just my dinner. I ate before the Princess half and had similar stomach pains, so I know the problem is eating even 3-4 hours before the race. My body just cannot handle it. Also, the Nuun tabs really put the kibosh on the race. My body prefers Gatorade, and even with the extra sugar in the Gatorade, it leads to better fuel for my race than water with added electrolytes.
My next opportunity will be next week at the Mt. Dora half marathon. I know I will not be able to PR during the Dopey Challenge so I am going to take another stab at PR'ing before I end this training season in January. Wish me luck! This week has been a learning week. I have been doing research and experiments to help me with my form, my nutrition, and my overall health.
On Monday I went to the Good Form Running Clinic at Track Shack. We ran a block then the staff taped our run to see how we are running and what improvements we could make regardless of whether we employed the Good Form Running technique or not. I felt very proud when the staff approved of my stride, strike, arm position, and posture. It was yet another opportunity for me to see my improvement over the years of running, particularly since I picked it up again a year ago. However, I am trying to employ some of the Good Form Running components to lessen the risk of injury and to pick up the pace while keeping my short stride. Click here for more information on Good Running: http://www.goodformrunning.com/ While I was at Track Shack I decided to pick up some nutrition aids to experiment with this week. I purchased Nuun tablets, Honey Stinger gummies and wafer, and Gu Chomps. The Nuun tabs are awesome! Just like an isotonic but cheaper and definitely no side effects. Although there is no sugar in the tabs, I still get that sugar-on-my-teeth feeling with just a few gulps. However, I can deal with it. I just have to fill up my water bottle, drop a couple of tabs in and go. However, I do not think I could get through a long run on a drink alone. I only had the Honey Stinger gummies today and no side effects either so the Honey Stingers are on the "good list" as well. I was only able to try out the HS gummies because I was not able to get in all the runs I had to this week. I did 3 out of 3 days; better than the last two weeks but still not great. However, I feel like I did the most important runs for this week. Week 6 started the speed and tempo runs. The speed runs I think are gonna be my favorite. It's a great way to work on pace and after all the mileage, it's kinda nice just to run my heart out for a few minutes at a time and not feel guilty when I stop. I stayed on target at each 400 meter run and in all was just 3 miles--that's cake! The next unique run this week was the tempo run. That was a bit tougher. Here I am really working on getting close to my goal pace by running 10 seconds above the goal; this week for 5 miles. The first mile I was 3 seconds too long, the second mile I was 8 seconds too long, the third mile...., the fourth mile, right on target and the fifth mile I made it a full minute faster than the goal. It was my first tempo so I'm trying to be positive. Although I only hit the target once, at least the first two weren't too far off and the last one I went so fast only because I was going to be late for a quiz. I felt so down because I had to take a walk break between each mile and especially after that third mile. I wonder if I set my goal pace too fast but I am holding off on reevaluating my goal paces until a month or so. I feel confident that I should see improvements by then to know what I need to do. This week I missed three easy runs. Two 4 milers and the first 8 miler. I am still trying to recoup from burnout due to my leadership responsibilities and have not been fighting my body if it is asking for rest. It's been tough mentally to miss these runs but at the same token, I'm giving my mental health the treatment it needs to continue training. I was doing some research on burnout this week and learned that although "burnout" is not a condition, adrenal failure, which causes burnout, is the medical reasoning for feeling burnt out. To summarize what I understood, when you are pushing your body to meet those stressful demands, the body is in constant "fight or flight" mode. To make a running analogy, the adrenaline is supposed to help you during a sprint in life's demands not through a constant marathon of continuous demands. If the adrenal glands fail to fire then the body goes into adrenal failure. It is very common and the only cure is rest--sleeping, naps, and just being vegetable. Over the past week I have been unintentionally doing this, not feeling guilty about mental health day, and it has worked. Today I woke up feeling more like myself and with more energy than I have in weeks. I felt strong enough to do the 8 miles scheduled for today. It was a bit tough mentally as I feel like it was a huge climb from the miles prescribed this week but I'm seeing how much closer I am getting to these miles being the norm. Now that I am feeling rested, I need to work on respecting my morning alarm, waking up on time, and getting each of my runs scheduled for the week. For the first time since I started I am super excited for my run and can't wait to get up tomorrow and get the miles in. It's only 4 miles--cake! The beginning of Week 3 I felt just as sick as I had on my original Week 2. I had to break my schedule and take Monday and Tuesday off to make sure I didn't actually get sick if I was going to. Thankfully, that did the trick and I had a great week 3. I went at it Wednesday through Sunday straight with no breaks. Due to these experiences, I've had to take an army of supplements to help my immune system. I have been under incredible stress because of my daily demands and responsibilities which I believe was the cause of my illness. Thankfully, the supplements have helped.
Week 4 went relatively well although I had to miss a day of training. It's so frustrating when that happens. I know one day is not going to undo the fitness I have built up but I feel like it is strain on my discipline. Must stay focused! This week was monumental as it is the last time I will run 3 miles until I taper. Eek! Now we are starting to climb to the big numbers. This week just ended Week 5. Talk about a strain on my discipline--I only ran 2 days this week. I had a huge event on campus on Thursday, Friday I was fried after working 10.5 hours, and Saturday well...it's my mental health day. Sometimes the brain says stay in and I have to obey the brain on mental health day. It's her day. However, today I definitely made up for it. Today was the first 6 miler of the season and on top of that I trained legs since I missed it on Tuesday. I killed those legs! I can usually walk fine the day and don't feel the hobbling pain until the next day. However, today...today...I needed a cane. On top of that, I burned so many calories between the run and lifting that I couldn't make it home for my shake. I had to stop at Publix and buy a MuscleMilk. The cashier asked me if I wanted that in a bag...please! I'm sweaty and stinky and can barely walk...I opened the bottle in his hand because I was so desperate. After getting home I made myself a big delicious salmon burger and an hour after that I killed a whole bag of plain PopCorners and a tub of guacamole. Yea, that training appetite is kicking in. Week 5 is also monumental because because it will be the last week I get 2 days off until taper week. I will only have Wednesdays off and Tuesday will start speed work. I'm really excited to start building those fast twitch muscle fibers! Now that we are getting to runs that need supplemental nutrition, I've had to come back to the drawing board to find out what I will use. Hansons suggests just using an isotonic drink but they have so much sugar! I've had some digestion problems for a while. I figured pretty early on they were connected to sugar but I thought this was only due to the obvious--candy, desserts, and alcohol. However, I have learned within the last couple of weeks that anything white--white bread, white potatoes, white rice, etc. are causing this issue as well because the body breaks these down into glucose as it does with candy, desserts, and alcohol. I also have to be super meticulous with everything that I buy--everything prepackaged has sugar, there's no way around it, but as long as I keep my sugar consumption within a certain limit and from certain sources, I can deal with it but I have to monitor my intake on a daily basis. Therefore, the conundrum with race nutrition is that the gu, gummies, and wafers are all packed full of sugar. I decided to try dehydrated peaches but my body couldn't take it. I had a small 8 oz. bottle of Gatorade today after a nasty battle with my bowels right before I started my run and surprisingly my body responded just fine. I'm going to try it again in a couple of days to make sure it wasn't a fluke as my body needed the sugar and electrolytes after the civil war inside my body. I've had honey stingers in the past and loved them but I need to double check the sugar content. Everyone says they are a good low-sugar option. I will duly report my findings next post. Although the plan is 18 weeks, I started a week early since I was going to do the Detroit Free Press Marathon on October 20th. The Hanson Plan suggested if a race is going to be done within the plan, the plan does not suggest doing any races during training, that the race be done in week 7. Therefore, I needed to start a week early to make the race day on week 7. However, when I signed up for the race I was severely ignorant to the conditions of the city. It would not bother me if I was not going by myself and normally I am a risk taker and brave but after being clued in on the extreme poverty and violent crimes happening, I have decided to not the race.
Thankfully, starting a week early helped out a lot. I started getting really sick Sunday on the first week and was not able to do any training the second week. I picked up with the second week schedule this past week and am still on track for the 18 week plan. It's felt really good to get back into training mode after taking the summer run break. It is amazing how the body just becomes athletic. When I picked up running again last year, I felt as if I had never ran before. Now, running is such a part of me that the break has not taken much of my gains. I really feel like a runner this time around. I am starting to feel sick again today. I am pumping myself full of vitamins and missed class today to sleep and rest because the cushion that I had has already been spent and I would feel miserable not running for another week. Let's see what the week brings. After looking at my training plan last week, I realized that the first day of training is not until Thursday of this week (September 5th). Therefore, I have the day to not really rest, but to labor on my law school reading instead. However, I signed up for the gym this morning. I will be having to do a lot of my running on the dreadmill during the week due to my very packed schedule. I also went food shopping and loaded my cart with lots of carbs to keep my muscles fueled this training season.
The following post will contain my entire running schedule. See you Thursday! |