Where did February go? Oh wait, I know---- all I did was run, sleep and eat. And then there's the matter of that full time job thing. Anyway, sorry for the long break.
It's been the most brutal winter in about 20 years here and the half mary training has been rough to say the least. I believe the last time I was ranting on here, I had just ran 7 miles to my utter astonishment. Well, yesterday I hit an all time high of 10 miles. How does that even happen??? Even while I was doing it, I couldn't imagine how I was doing it. It took me 2 hours but at the same time it was over in an instant. I have been doing group runs with one of my local breweries (after trying many running groups) and I find this one to be the best one for me by far. Beer = friendly people??? Whatever the reason, I'm happy to be training with them and I'll even get a free t-shirt to wear on the big day labeling me as part of their group. This excites me to no end for some strange reason. I hope the blood, sweat and tears will wash out of it easily so I can wear it again.
I even found someone as slow as me to run with yesterday, and dare I say, he might have been a tiny bit slower. We paced each other the first 8 miles, then he made a detour to run by his house for water and snacks. Those last 2 miles alone were brutal. He gave me some great advice and information about this particular half since he ran it in 2012. He also promised that since he would be at the race I would not be last.
3 weeks until the race. One more long run of 11 miles. Then the taper begins. I feel stupid even saying that. I'm not ready for this, haven't done enough hill work, but it's going to happen. I'm still trying to figure out what to eat during the run and it's been hit and miss. Found a great blog, active-balanced-vegan, that listed some great vegan options for eating during endurance runs. This week I tried one of those squeezable flavored applesauce. It's a pretty good size to carry along, don't have to chew it. My tummy tolerated it pretty well. May try some gluten free pretzels and/or dates this week.
Strength training is going well, but I can't really tell any difference in my running yet. I'm sure that will take quite a while. I can say that I've never been so sore. How were these weak ass muscles carrying me down the street?! I can also say that the book I'm following is fantastic (Quick Strength for Runners by Jeff Horowitz) and I highly recommend it. It basically spoon feeds me what I need to do, when to do it and how many times. I have found this is what I need. I operate best with a clear plan.
My favorite running quote of the past week: "Running is a series of controlled falls". Ain't that the truth.
I'm getting so nervous. I'm even starting to stress out about the parking and how early I need to get there. There are going to be 5,000 runners!!!!!! That's crazy. I know it's going to be way harder than I am even imagining and I already know I'm going to cry. I just don't know if it will be during or after. Or both.
But the most stressful thing of all this past week? I made an offer on a condo and damn if they didn't accept it. So it was good in one way, took my mind off my other stressor, but this is stress of a whole other level, money and moving stress. I'm excited to hopefully have a place that is mine, where I can dig in and not move until I go to the assisted living facility. Inspection is this week, if that goes well, it's time to start signing some checks..... :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment