The Weather Matched My Mood

Today was one of those days I just want to stay at home at watch Rachel Zoe all day…rainy, misty, kind of cold. Perfect reading day, actually. You know, one of those days you want to spend in your snuggie or, better yet, HEATED HUGGIE.

This look is dead sexy. Straight off the runway.

Dog clothes freak me out. Dog snuggies are even worse.

The weather actually perfectly matched my mood. I ran for 50 min today which, in hindsight, was too much, seeing as my knee/IT band/angry tissue started hating me again and hurt with walking and bending. I had violins following me around all day and, at a few points, almost cried, at which point I reminded myself that I was being ridiculous. I really wasn’t freaking out so much over the fact that running 50 minutes reaggravated my IT band or whatever. I was more sad that all of my hard work was going down the drain.

True Life: I was terrified of pool drains as a child after I watched a 20/20 special about kids dying from getting their hair caught in them. I've been watching 20/20 from an early age.

I was talked off the ledge by a few nice people and realized that I still have 10 days to get better and that, in reality, I just need one good day of running. That’s it. If gymnastics taught me anything, its that you can definitely throw some tape on whatever ails you and suck it up for one day.

I was brainwashed as a child to think this had magical properties.

I also went back to Dr. Levine today after leaving a message that probably sounded like a anxious person yelling, “CODE RED: MY LEG IS FALLING OFF.” I got ice and stim and feel much better. Dr. Levine told me to focus all of my energy into my leg being 100% better. That means no running, elliptical, biking, or anything with a bending motion that hurts my knee until Tuesday. No tennis because the torque isn’t good for the SI Joint. I can swim if I so choose. Basically, I have to treat my body as if its a princess.

But, duh, we already knew I was a princess.

Cinderella is the bomb.

So, this has led me to the perfect Halloween costume: SUPER-TAPER.

Duh, Super Taper is a super hero.

Super Taper’s powers include: resting, icing, not being sad or freaking out, foam rolling, healing, movie watching, book reading, and relaxing.

Thankfully, I’m going home this weekend so I’ll have my partner in crime (my sister, Allison) to accompany Super-Taper in my marathon movie sessions. Allison hates running so she will want to hear nothing about it, which is fine by me.

So, that’s my plan – focus on 100% getting better, not freaking out about not running, not being sad because I will run NYCM come hell or high water, and judiciously picking out the best movies to watch all weekend.

TELL ME: WHAT ARE YOU BEING FOR HALLOWEEN? ANY MORE MOVIE RECS? TV SERIES YOU LOVE THAT I SHOULD START?

If things aren’t better by Tuesday, I encourage any of you to come join me in singing kumbaya and meditating or something while also seeking out doctors who can shoot some cortisone all up in there.

And, for those of you who have asked medically related or anatomy related questions, first, you should speak to your actual healthcare professional always, seeing as I’m not a real doctor nor am I an expert in the musculoskeletal system. However, I’ll do my due diligence for you and get back to you. I’m no soft tissue or anatomy maven, but I do know good places to look for answers.

Until next time…

It’s Wednesday, People…

Typical…

FYI: I realize my homonym misusage has been awful lately. I’m sorry. I swear that I am educated.

1.  MEETING UP WITH GOOD COOKIES MOM

Follow @GoodCookiesMom and @Cookies4Kids

Remember that bake sale I held back in October? Well, today I met up with Liam’s mom, Gretchen, to talk about everything from pediatric cancer research to the benefit of NYC.

A particularly cute picture of Liam, who was made an honorary fireman by Engine 1, Ladder 24 of the FDNY.

Strolling with Gretchen through Central Park reaffirmed why I was so passionate about raising money for this charity. First, if you notice, the charity is not named “The Liam Witt Foundation.” This is intentional, as Gretchen wanted anyone involved to be able to do so in honor of whomever they want, whether it be Liam, their child, or all pediatric cancer patients.

In addition, the aim of the charity is transparent. Cookies For Kids’ Cancer has partnered with 5 of the top pediatric research institutions in the country (Dana Farber, St. Jude’s, Texas Children’s, CHOP, and MSKCC). Research groups from each of these distinguished institutions then applies and the medical advisory board for Cookies, which is essentially a brain trust of the top mind’s in the pediatric cancer world, decides which ideas will go most quickly from laboratory to clinic and, further, which show the most promise to affect difference in outcomes. Research discoveries from these 5 institutions then, in essence, “trickle down” to all patients being treated at any hospital in the US, seeing as the medical community is so electronically connected and free flow of ideas and communication is, in turn, easier.

I could go on, but let’s just say I scheming ways to make more money for Cookies…

2. PAPERCLIP THINKING HE IS ACTUALLY BUZZ LIGHTYEAR

To Infinity and Beyond!

That’s right. My favorite 3 year old is going to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween. The problem is that when he dons the actual costume, he thinks he is actually Buzz, meaning he will try to jump off things thinking he will start flying. His mom had to sit him down and tell him the harsh reality – the costume does not make you fly like Buzz.

3. BATH AND BODY WORKS BLACK HOLE

I swear that every time I go in that store, I don’t come out for another half hour, at the very least, and get sucked into buying God knows what, but usually copious amounts of themed hand sanitizer.

I already had the Halloween ones, but now I have the ENTIRE holiday season from October to December covered, including one of those hand sanitizer holders with Jingle Bells. I mean, how could I NOT buy that – its bananas.

100% necessary purchase. Hello, I can't get sick. Must sanitize.

4. GOING HOME THIS WEEKEND

I haven’t seen my sister since July. I think this is one of the longest times we’ve been separated since she emerged from the womb in 1988.

Mere days after Ally became my BFF.

She's always loved me...PS - that Little Mermaid pillow is bomb.

Of course, I’m excited to hang with the rest of my fam, too.

5. DR. STEVEN D. LEVINE, CHIROPRACTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

Homeslice is the rock in my emotionally volatile world lately, meaning that when I see ads for the marathon I want to rip them down and when the security guard of my work building asked me, “When’s the big run?”, I almost wanted to cry (PS- No idea how he knew I was running it, but I love him and we chat everyday so I know he was trying to be nice; PPS – No idea if there is supposed to be a comma after the question mark, but go with it.) Facebook updates and tweets about the marathon make me want to deactivate both accounts as they make me sad for some reason. I don’t know why I’m being so hypersensitive about it.

I went back in today for some manual torture and the man with the magically strong hands reassured me that everything is going to be alright come November 6th.

Today’s ART associated anatomy lesson! When the gluteus maximus is reflected away, lo and behold, there are a million other muscles beneath there that the medical/chiropractic/physical therapy/etc student must memorize, not to mention their innervation, origin and insertion, and function! My personal fave are the gemelli muscles – there is an inferior gemellus and superior gemellus, each flanking the obdurator internus. They are called “gemelli” because that means “twin” in Italian, I think – could be Latin. The piriformis is the one that is a pain in the butt to a lot of runners – pun intended.

Ok, I’ll stop boring you.

Anyways, if you wondering where I stand, as I’m sure you all are just DYING to know (kidding), I ran for 30 min today and it was better than Saturday, but not 100%, meaning there wasn’t a sharp pain, but something was there. Sometimes I describe that kind of pain that its dull or sharp as “the absence of nothing,” but I’m not sure that entirely makes sense to anyone but me. I ran all 30 min pretty slow and anytime I sped up the tightness got worse.

MORE ANATOMY - YES!!!

I got more ART after this today and Dr. Levine assures me that everything feels alright and it will all be ok.

Mentally, I’m trying to hold down the fort, but its not always so easy to not get upset and then chastise myself for getting upset over something that really doesn’t matter, even though its something I’ve put a lot of time into and care a lot about. I am living, healthy, and leading a very charmed life overall, thus far. I am focusing on today and that is it. Tonight I am better than I was this morning because homeslice broke up more adhesions for me and my sacrum + lumbar spine is readjusted. And, today I am better than yesterday because I ran.

TELL ME: WHAT’S ROCKING YOUR WORLD THIS WEEK? 

Until next time…

Decisions, Decisions

First, I want to commend the Starbucks employee who ACTUALLY SPELLED MY NAME RIGHT today.

Way to go, barista. It's generally never correct unless they ask me for the spelling.

Also, that nail polish is “Carry On” by Essie. I like it, but don’t think it shows up well in this picture.

Second, I want to caution any of you all who shave your feet. I’ve always done that, but today I CUT TWO OF MY TOES. BEWARE.

Middle toes on both sides took hits today.

I can’t remember what color is on my toes right now – something brown. I know, I spend way too much time thinking about nail colors.

On my walk home today, I started to think about my marathon attire. It looks like I have some decisions to make and I’d prefer them to not be game-time decisions as Lord knows I’m going to be temporarily insane the 48 hours before the marathon.

1. WHICH OISELLE SHORTS?

I have three options: A) black Lori shorts, B) orange Lori shorts, C) orange distance shorts.

Tough call...

Option (A) is the “good luck” option as I’ve PR’ed twice in those shorts (Cow Harbor, Grete’s). However, they only have one pocket and I typically take 4 gels with me, which means I may not be able to get them all to fit.

Not like you've seen this picture before...

Option (C) is the most practical option as those shorts have tons of pockets for all my gels and stuff (well, I don’t bring anything else with me, but if I did, there would be room for it.) However, I wore those shorts in New Haven and we all know how that went for me. Therefore, they are “bad luck” shorts.

This wasn't really a good time...

Option (B) is Switzerland. It is neutral, although it still has the only one pocket dilemma.

I know the “good luck” vs “bad luck” thing is ridiculous. Don’t judge me.

2. GARMIN VS WATCH + PACE BRACELET

I’m starting to not be as freaked out by the ol’ Garmin, but I don’t love it. I’m thinking the watch + pace bracelet, but I plan on starting out slower than MP meaning I’d be behind the pace bracelet, so I’m not sure how said bracelet will actually help me.

See, this is why I need my running time-keeping elf!

Or I could just have Megan keep track of time for me...

3. HOW MUCH STUFF IS TOO MUCH TO BRING TO STATEN ISLAND?

Seriously, I’m going to bring way too much stuff to stay warm because the last thing I want to do before running for over 3 hours is to freeze for about 3 hours on Staten Island.

Olsen trash lady chic

I’m thinking I’m going to go for the look Mary Kate (on the right) has going on, except I’m going to leave my mint green Balenciaga motorcyle bag at home.

But, seriously, people who have endured the Staten Island pre-marathon freeze out before, how much stuff did you bring?

4. WHICH FLAVOR OF PICKY BAR BEFORE AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER?

I have yet to determine which flavor is my good luck flavor.

o

The Three Musketeers...but healthier.

Lauren’s Mega Nuts vs Nutless Wonder vs All-In Almond. I can’t decide either. It’s too difficult.

So, you see I have some decisions to make. The hair debacle has yet to be solved and “to arm warmer or not armwarmer” will most likely be a game time decision.

TELL ME: YOUR THOUGHTS? WHAT TO CHOOSE? ALSO, DO YOU PUT YOUR NAME ON YOUR SHIRT FOR A MARATHON? YES? NO? TOO CHEESY?

Now, I have to go figure out what I’m going to eat to prep for my 20-22 mile jaunt tomorrow morning, my longest run, yet. Susan and Megan have so graciously offered to run with me. Both have run marathons under 3:20. My best marathon is 3:48. I feel like we’d make a good “one of these things is not like the other” picture ie pick out the sloth from the cheetahs.

Until next time..

OMG. I can’t breathe. -RZ

You must know by now that I love Rachel Zoe. If you’re not aware, Rachel typically says “OMG I can’t breathe” or “I’m lit-er-ally dy-ing” in case you’re confused by the title. Anyways, my long run anxiety filled experience must have been exactly what she felt like when she was “dressless for the globes” in season 2. Don’t worry it all worked out ok for RZ – Cameron Diaz wore this awesome Karl Lagerfeld Chanel creation that Rachel actually got altered to be sleeveless.

Cameron totally shut it down. She look ba-nan-as.

So, you know how I was pretty freaked out over my long run with the 10 miles at marathon pace and what not? Yeah, let’s just say I did all 10 miles still pretty freaked out. I should’ve carried a brown paper bag with me so I could rebreathe my own CO2 to calm myself down.

If you want to know how fast I ran it and stuff, here is a nice Garmin table for you.

A 3:35 marathon is 8:12 pace - I'll let you be the judge if I was successful or not.

What this picture doesn’t tell you is that I seriously had to take time out seshes about 4 times to keep myself from having a meltdown. I knew I was being super irrational when I was complaining (in my head) about “all the people in this park – there’s too many and they’re overwhelming me!” Seriously, self? This is CENTRAL PARK in NYC – of course there are lots of people.

Also, does a gnarly headwind actually slow you down? Because I was complaining about that, too. In tennis, you can’t really complain about conditions like sun and wind, because, well, its always the same for your opponent. I’m not sure if wind affects running, but it was contributing to my meltdown today.

AUNTIE EM!!! This wind is gnarly.

So, I don’t really know if I can check the success box for “10 miles at MP” as I don’t think they allow for time-outs for panicking during a race.

I don’t really consider today a success, because its pretty much everything I would NOT want to happen before and during that marathon I’m running in a few weeks. My fear of failure pace-wise basically paralyzed me from running relaxed and calm like I did at Grete’s two weeks ago.

This was fun. Today was not.

Today confirmed that time is my frenemy. In the garden of my mind, time is both a flower and a weed. Or maybe just an flower surround by lots of thorns or something – oh wait, that would be a rose.

If I want to find a silver lining, I guess it was pretty much MP and I ran 18 miles total (4 before and 4 after). Afterwards, I got to eat 3 of Kelly‘s “healthy cookies” (or at least that’s what I call them) while watching American gymnastics dominance with her and Celia.

Anyways, I have 3 weeks to figure out how to channel Grete’s and Cow Harbor Meggie and not today’s Meggie. Suggestions for accomplishing this are welcome.

I guess I just have to go back to what worked in my past few races – enjoying pushing myself, enjoying the experience, singing to Taylor Swift, being cognizant of time, but not obsessed with it, etc. I’m hoping I get my act together or its going to be a miserable 26.2 miles. I thinking it won’t be though.

On another note, before we go, my hunger is out of control lately. I feel like I can’t go 2 hours without eating. To make matters worse, my building’s mailman is hosting my newest Picky Bar shipment hostage as he didn’t deliver the mail today. Its upsetting.

***ALSO, BIC BAND UPDATE – It stayed on my head for all 18 miles. I’m a fan.

Until next time…

Inherently Lazy

First things first, I have been wearing the BIC band all afternoon and it has not moved once inch. I will report back after I run in it if the “not slipping off my head” verdict still holds true.

Said band has not moved from my head, yet.

I know some of you out there struggle with rest days or recovery or whatever you want to call it.

I may not be so hot at some aspects of running – tempo runs, my whole mental running saga, freaking out over timing devices attached to one’s wrist – but I’ll tell you one part I am fabulous at – rest days and recovery runs.

I, for one, love rest days. In fact, I have not moved from my perch in my bed the last hour and it has been fantastic. I plan on only moving again to eat dinner. Otherwise, I’m parked here watching that adorable child sing “Super Bass” over and over again.

Seriously, those girls are so freaking adorable. Who wants to dress up like this with me for Halloween? Any takers?

I’m going to audition to be one her of her back up dancers.

Anyways, yes, I take two rest days per week. I don’t like taking more, as I get ancy, and I don’t like taking less, as I get tired. I’m very stuck in my ways, I guess.

I pretty much only run. I’m impressed with all of you that can run, yoga-cize, pilate it up, spin, bust your butt at boot camp…whatever it is you do, I tip my hat to you. I thought about going to yoga today, but just the thought of walking there was tiring and catching up on The Rachel Zoe Project seemed so much more enticing. (Below is a Rachel Zoe spoof, fyi, but its hysterical.)

Since I pretty much only run, I toyed with the idea of only taking one rest day per week, thinking it’d make me a more baller runner if I ran 6 days a week rather than 5. I tried it for a bit (ok, maybe only like two weeks in July/August). I mainly noticed the energy I was putting into that sixth run was drawing energy away from the other 5, which I felt was unproductive to my overall training, so I stopped the whole 6th day of running thing.

Maybe I’m a whiner. Maybe I’m lazy. Or maybe 5 days is just right for me.

Also, whenever I say “just right,” a lot of times it reminds me of Goldilocks and the porridge – too hot, too cold, just right.

PS - who actually eats porridge? Raise your hand if you've had it, because I have never seen it.

I guess I love my rest days as I kind of see it like this – I only have a limited supply of energy in my running energy well, so I have to spend it wisely. I go pretty hard on my workout or long run days (2-3 days out of the 5), use the other days for my sanity/social running/to shake out lactic acid/etc, and I refill my well on my rest days.

And, I know this is nuts, but sometimes I’m worried those other things would detract from my running. Like part of the reason I didn’t go to yoga today is because, seeing as I don’t go to yoga that often, I was worried I’d be sore, and I want to do well in my long run on Saturday and soreness may detract from that.

I know, not nuts at all.

Normally, I’m not like that – I’ll go to Flybarre or whatever – and risk soreness detracting from a run. But, I guess, since the marathon is getting close, I’d rather not have any runs blow up in my face between now and Nov 6th that would bring my confidence down. I guess my running confidence is very fragile at the moment and its protected by my fluffy duvet, which is why watching TV in bed is way more enticing than yoga lately.

Moral of the story, yet again: My running confidence is unstable. What else is new.

However, if you want to learn how to enjoy your rest days or run ridiculously slow on a recovery run, I’m your girl.

TELL ME: How many rest days do you take/week in whatever sport you do? Do you think I’m crazy for not wanting to do other things right now that I fear would make me sore and detract from my running?

For the record, I’ve not always been good at taking rest days. In high school, I played tennis 7 days/week, sometimes I did take one day off (usually Fridays). Maybe I’ve just tired by myself out by 25 years old.

Also, I plan to take two solid weeks off after the marathon and eat chocolate and peanut butter puffins for dinner during that time because I can.

Until next time…

A Different Kind of List

Class, before we begin, I have a question for long pony-tailed individuals out there. On long runs, sweaty summer days, and the like, I have come across a most disgusting and disturbring hair phenomenon – ponytail tangles. If you look closely at the following picture, you may be able to see what I’m talking about.

Basically, my ponytail is a rats’ nest at the end of a really long run — ie a marathon. This poses a problem as to what to do with my hair for said upcoming marathon in November. Do I continue with high ponytail as seen in the above photo and incur tangles? Do I french braid my hair which I can’t do on myself and, therefore, presents a challenge. Suggestions are welcome and, if you can braid, I may higher your services for the marathon.

End hair discussion.

If you know anything about my obsession with my planner (from Korea), you know I LOVE myself a list. Its not necessarily “to-do” lists, either. For instance, I once wrote about how I made a list of reasons why the NYC marathon would go well so I would stop freaking out about running for forever and a day (ok, slight exaggeration).

My paper brain.

A lot of stuff on that is is about enjoying the experience, working hard on “the extras,” not being a psycho about tempo runs and things like that, etc. If you’ve read about my recent races, they’ve gone well for me because I’ve focused on things other than time (and, lucky for me, the times followed). However, I do have a time goal for the NY marathon so I can’t ignore the ol’ watch completely, although I’d love to.

Lately, I’ve been trying to reconcile how I’m going to incorporate my time goal into my NYC marathon mentality without ruining the whole experience for me.

If you also have read some of my other posts, you know how in love I am with my Believe I Am training journal. Its a tough call for which I love more – the Korean planner or the Believe I Am training journal. In said training journal, there is this poem:

Pretty good, huh?

When I asked a very wise person about what to do with my “how do I care about time, but not too much” dilemma, the guru responded with this little gem: “Just go back to that nice little garden you’ve made with all the other new flowers you’ve planted and make sure you plant ‘time’ in an appropriately sized pot and don’t let it invade the other things too much. You don’t have to kick it out of the garden completely.”

This is my garden at my Hamptons home that I don't have.

So, last night, when I was freaking out over my workout today (6 x 1 mile @ HM pace, which we all know good I am at pacing myself), I drew a little picture titled “Meggie’s Marathon Mentality.” I drew flowers of varying sizes and wrote beside them what they represented. I also drew weeds for things that detract from what I want to focus on during the marathon.

An example of my artistic abilities from the 2nd grade.

I’d show you a picture of it, but my drawing skills aren’t so stellar, so I’d say its more of an abstract garden rather than still life.

To give you an example, there is a big flower that has “in-joy” written on it (enjoy, running “in joy” – get it?) and beside it a weed that says “ruining the experience by being a competitive psycho.” As much as time is important to me, I also want the whole thing to be something I look back on fondly since, you never know, it may be the only time in my life I get to run the NYC marathon.

My little art project really helped me not only delineate what was important to me for the marathon, but also at what priority level I placed them. Its helped me focus on what I need to do this next month to achieve what I want in November.

So, get out your construction paper and pencils and go to town folks.

Arts and crafts rock.

And, whilst we’re on things that are helping me in my last month of marathon preparation, I will leave you two little gems from two wise people.

The first is to “not wish the miles away… this feeling of pain is what you’ve been waiting for,” meaning, at least to me, not to think about just getting through workouts/long runs/etc, but to enjoy what purpose they are serving even if its sometimes a little bit painful.

That little tidbit helped me on my mile repeats today which were as follows: 8, 7:28, 7:28, 7:38, 7:38, 7:45. The first one I may or may not have been pretending I was Taylor Swift singing “Sparks Fly” and forgot what I was doing. This is why I shouldn’t run races with an ipod.

Let's give it up for the mile repeats!

The second is “to not put the marathon on a pedestal.” At the end of the day, its just another race. I mean think about it, sometimes you run a 10K that goes great and other days you run one that goes poorly. The same thing may happen in a marathon, but its just another race. There will always be another race (or so I tell myself to calm myself down.)

I hope those help you as much as they have helped me.

Until next time…

                                                                                                                                                              

What’s Up Wednesday

This is more like a “Thankful Things Thursday” post that Ali does, but whatever, let’s just go with it, people.

1. NOT BEING A 1st or 2nd YEAR MED STUDENT: Even though I won’t be done with my training until 2020, I have THANKFULLY put my sitting in lecture all day/marathon library sesh days behind me. My roommates are listening to lectures right now (all of our lectures in medical school are taped, which allows flexibility in attendance or the ability to re-watch a lecture in case you missed something, which I found very helpful) and the sound of it brings physical pain upon me. Even though the hours are longer as a resident, at least you are working with patients rather than staring at a book and make mountains upon mountains of note cards.

The pinnacle of my good studying habits, Step 1 of the USMLE boards - 10 hrs a day for 5.5 weeks...can you see the desperation in my face?

2. MY MAGIC RUNNING SHOES (aka racing flats): Behold the beauty:

I may or may not have bought these solely because they look cool.

I had a very hard time justifying this purchase to myself because, let’s get real here, I am NOT running that fast in races where a several ounces off my shoe is going to make a huge difference. However, I thought about it this way — would proper stringing make a novice tennis player better? Well, depends on a lot, but let’s say they haven’t had their racquet restrung in eons (and probably have no idea what string they are using). If I restrung their racquet at the appropriate tension with a decent string, then, yes, it would make a difference.

And, if you have question on what tension you should string at and what string to use – I’m your girl. (FYI: My favorite for my racquet, Babolat Pure Drive, is Luxilon Big Banger on the mains and Wilson NXT on the crosses, strung at 57 lbs.)

3. SATISFYING MY HUNGER WITH ICE CREAM. I have been super hungry this week for reasons unbeknownst to me. I don’t think I’ve been running any more than usual. Its probably from sleep deprivation on Sunday and, therefore, my leptin levels are increased and making me ravenous. Ice cream is doing the trick.

Cookies and Cream is my favorite, followed by Vanilla...in case you want to bring me some.

4. SCHOOL SUPPLY AISLES. The thought of buying new pens, highlighters, and notebooks is always exciting for me. I don’t want to be a true, lecture going student anymore, but  I like buying the accessories. I do not know why, but most likely because I am essentially a nerd. Also, proper pens are crucial to school success. I have recently discovered the Sharpie Pen — highly recommend.

You can write like a champ with this.

5. MY 5K THIS WEEKEND. I should not be excited for this race as its not like I’ve trained to run a fast 5K, but for some reason I’m ridiculously excited about it. I do not know why, but maybe its because I’m going to wear my new shoes which, clearly, are going to make my outfit that much better. Or maybe its because I’ve only done 2 prior 5Ks so 5Ks are kind of novel to me.

The last 5K I ran was in March. My goal was 24 min. The course was hilly and by the end I actually couldn’t see straight, my vision was sort of blurry, and I briefly considered that maybe this was unsafe. And then I saw the finish and all of my sanity went out the window. I threw up when I finished. And I ran 23:58. It was totally worth running far too fast and causing myself to throw up for those 2 seconds…at least in my world.

The only thing I do not like about 5Ks is that I never know when to “go” and by go is when I mean you throw down and run much faster than you should be. And I don’t really know how much to hold back in the beginning. Basically, I just don’t know what I should be doing so I end up just running far too fast from the beginning, then trying to hold on for dear life, and that is really fun for me. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.

I’ve run about a bajillion 4 mile races which is pretty similar (right?) and I break those into 2 mile increments (1st half, 2nd half) and the last mile I go all out.

I know myself too well and most likely how it will go is I will run a far too fast 1st mile, but will think its ok because “I feel fine right now.” The second mile, I will want to die and probably slow down. The third mile (and the .1), I will still want to die from starting off to fast but the pain will be more tolerable as I will be near the end.

I’m spending far too much time thinking about this 5K. I will stop now.

Anyways, that’s what’s up this week.

So, people, if you have any 5K strategies to save me from my crazy self, please share.

Also, tell me what’s rocking your world this week, particularly if its ice cream related so I can go try that ice cream.

Until next time…

Can’t Get Tempo Satisfaction

Ok, so the title of this post is not entirely true. Before we go on, PSA: Today is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. I expect everyone to celebrate accordingly.

I did a tempo run (or was it intervals?!? too many running terms) today where I got a 1 min rest between each mile so I didn’t have a tempo spaz attack and freak out (the RC is wise, people).

It worked wonderfully. The RC is, therefore, a genius. I was able to hit the prescribed times the RC designated for me to do and actually sneaked under each time by about 5 sec. Hello, its always a competition in my world. Meggie vs Watch.

I kept the recoveries to 1 min. I didn’t give up or yell at myself. I’d consider today a success, yes?

Well, yes, it is a baby step forward and I was pretty excited about it afterwards, revved up by endorphins and the caffeine rush incurred from my post-run coffee.

But, then, the evil negative thought dragons emerge from the lair in the mountains of my brain. (Sorry, I just saw Harry Potter 7.2 yesterday so dragons, goblins, and wizards are on the brain…)

Dragon #1: The Hungarian Horntail saying, “You cheated.”

Oh, that just me on a quidditch broom being chased by a big dragon.

I guess with the 1 min breaks it is sort of “cheating,” so to speak. I mean “real runners” don’t need breaks on their tempo runs. However, I was told by a very wise triathlete that it is, in fact, not cheating and that it actually probably kept me running more smoothly and efficiently. Said triathlete is very good himself (he, like, wins triathlons, professional ones at that) so I believed him and then went to slay my dragon. My weapon of choice? The sword of Godric Gryffindor, duh…

Just my goblin buddy bringing me my sword.

Dragon #2: The Swedish Short Snout saying “It was far too hard towards the end to be a tempo run.”

This won't give children nightmares at all if displayed in their bedrooms...

Ok, fine, I’ll fess up my times and marathon goal because it will be hard to explain it otherwise. So, obviously, my goal is 3:35, which is the Boston Marathon qualifying standard for my age. That’s something like 8:12/mile. Today each mile was around 7:55 (prescribed pace was apprx 8 min/mile). By the third one, it felt kinda lactic acidy and hard. Of course, I take two issues with this:

1. Shouldn’t a tempo run not feel that hard towards the end? Shouldn’t you feel like you could’ve kept running at that pace?

I mean, after that 3rd one, I was definitely glad to be dunzo…

2. If 7:55 pace feels hard for 3 miles then how on EARTH I am going to run 8:12ish for 26.2 miles. And I run my long runs a lot slower than other people. And other people run a lot more miles per week than me. They put in the work, you don’t.

This, of course, brings me back to my eternal doubt, which is “do I set my goals too high?” and “do I think I’m better than I actually am?”

My wand is elm with dragon heartstring and reasonably pliable wood. It chose me, obviously.

I took out my Ollivander crafted wand (I am sorry for all the HP references, but they just fit too well) and have avada kedrava-ed (the killing curse, duh) dragon #2 with a few rationalizations.

1. If running wasn’t sometimes hard, you wouldn’t get better. And, its still early, you aren’t really in that great of shape speed wise, this could’ve gone a lot worse, it was a good step forward, stop trying to find reasons it wasn’t a job well done.

2. It is August. NYC 26.2 is in November. That is a lot of time. If you psyche yourself out in August, then you’re done for. Also, stop comparing yourself to other people, you idiot. You’re doing what’s best for you.

So, all day I’ve been letting go over negative thought balloons and slaying dragons (decked out in Gryffindor wizarding robes, duh) whenever one of those thoughts creeps in. I’m choosing to look at today like this:

Today was progress forward, you’re getting fitter because of it, it will pay off in the end, how you look at today is probably more important than what actually happened as it affects how you approach the next workout, the next race, etc. And, self, if you don’t set your goals really high, you won’t actually know how good you are.

So, I’m choosing to think that I am, indeed, a bad-ass and am really awesome and will run in November like a baller.

I wish I could be on of those people who just takes what transpires and is happy with it. But, if you can’t tell from the title of this blog, I contemplate/mull-over/overthink things a lot.

So, I’m going forward saying that “Yes, Meggie, today you were a baller” and attacking whatever dragons come my way with that attitude.

Until next time…

 

Making Peace With Tempo Runs

So, if you read this post, you know me and tempo runs don’t mix so well.

I’ve asked all the “good runners” I know and, apparently, there is no way you can train for a marathon without doing tempo runs. Upsetting. In fact, one person told me “the marathon is just like one big tempo run.” Awesome. After the desired physiologic effects were explained to me, I get it. I need to do them.

I went and chased down a bunch of Kenyans and asked them about tempo runs. Hah- just kidding. I'm sure they'd look at me as this whiny, American prima donna. And I don't know any Kenyans.

So, being the overthinker that I am who has more time on her hands these days to contemplate such things, I’ve tried to figure out why I don’t like them.

I think its primarily two things: 1) I still don’t get how I’m supposed to always feel 2) I get too caught up in time/splits/details. Me? Details? Nooooo….

The RC is going to kill me if she reads this (which she won’t, but if she did) because she has explained tempo runs to me like a thousand times. I get its supposed to be like faster than your marathon pace, around 10K pace-ish, an 7/10ish on discomfort level. Problem is that’s kind of how I think about races, too — remember my cliff? That I think of it as uncomfortable, but not dying. I guess thats how I think about tempo runs, too. So, I associate tempo runs with race like pain, which is why I dread them and, in turn, sabotage them with my easily-gives-up attitude that I approach tempo runs with.

So, I guess I need to find a new cliff of uncomfortable that is not as uncomfortable as races, but still uncomfortable. I need to create my own Oucher scale of uncomfortable-ness when running.

The real Oucher scale to rate pain. On a scale of 1-10, how much pain are you in reading this post?

Second, if you read that other post, what basically happened was I freaked when I wasn’t exactly, to the T on the pace the RC had set forth for me. First of all, WHO DOES THAT?!? (stopping in the middle of a run). Second, I think they call this “giving up too easily.”

It was explained to me by one of said “good runners” that if, for example, you want to average 8 min pace, you could start out slower than that, say 8:20, and then speed up as the run continues. And that’s actually the way its supposed to be done.

So, because I’m sure the RC (who I should probably ask if she doesn’t mind being called the RC in the blogosphere) will be scheduling more tempo runs, I am developing a plan of attack as to how I will conquer them.

First, I will don medieval knight attire in preparation for battle:

My horse will not be coming with me.

Only joking. My medieval knight attire is stored at home, anyways.

Second, unless the RC does not approve, I will not be bringing my watch.

Bye-bye watch.

Third, I will warm up adequately, do some strides (are you supposed to do this before tempo runs? yes? no?), and not run too much the day before.

Fourth, I need to find some mantra or some phrase to repeat to myself to get me though it. And, I will embrace the pain, know that it is mentally and physically callousing me, and that’s what I want.

And I should probably just calm down and “let it happen” — whatever “it” is that day.

So, that’s what I’ll do.

I’ll let you know how it goes, if any of you care.

So, people, I need your input, again — what do you think about to get yourself to tough runs?

Maybe, I should think about this:

Thank you card from two adorable girls I babysit. And you know how much I love thank-you cards and handwritten notes.

Until next time…