Monday, September 7, 2015

16 miles....in perspective.

Week 5 of marathon training ended with some weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I wasn't even 1/2 way into my 16 miler on Saturday and I was spent.  I was nowhere near the pace I had planned on for that run which made me that much more frustrated.
With 5 miles to go, my husband showed up on the bike and received a sweaty hug and many tears. With some fresh water we kept going, albeit slowly....with much walking...but we kept going.

When I got home I didn't even want to look at the results.  Usually I upload the latest workout from my Garmin and look through the splits and the incline and try to remember when and where I felt strong and if that shows in the stats.

I don't think I uploaded Saturday's run until this morning.  I didn't want to see it.  I was constantly reliving it in my head wondering why I just couldn't keep going.

These are the times I wonder why I run.  In the middle of a run that is taxing and heartbreaking I begin to doubt that I can complete a marathon.  I fight my heart and my head to keep moving.  It's down right hard.

I did post my less than stellar run on Facebook and received a ton of comments and mounds of support from runners and non-runners.

A huge shout out to: Laura, Caitlin, Christoph, Cheryl, Anne, Carol/Glenn, Makayla, Kate, Jocelyn, Kathy, Vicki, Bridget and Sarah for your feedback on food, training, good and bad runs and the encouragement to keep on keeping on.

Thanks, too, to the folks at church who embraced me with hugs and words of support on Sunday morning.  And to Darrell, for the packets of fuel for me to try out on my next distance run.

I have gone back to the drawing board....for fuel and nutrition.  I realized that for the longest time I was logging food and exercise with the goal of losing weight.  At this point, I need to eat for fuel and extra energy.  I've increased my daily caloric intake and continue to work on good hydration.

In other areas of training, looking back at this past week, I napped on both Friday and Sunday....I need to work on getting to bed earlier, so my body gets ample rest and recovery time when I sleep.

With all that to think about, I began week 6 of training today.  It's a recovery week, so a few 8 milers and 12 miles at the end of the week (capped off with time with my sister!!)

This morning began with 8 miles with 10X100m sprints and it felt great.  The break in the heat and humidity definitely made a difference.  I tried, too, as much as I could to shake of Saturday's run and think of today as a new day.  I know I will remember the 16miler for a while...and it's good to have challenging, hard and humbling run, when it begins to get in the way of moving forward, I need to just let it go.

So here's to new weeks of training....the reminder from friends and family that while I cover many miles alone, I am not alone in the highs and lows of training and life.

See you out there!