It’s Wednesday, The Usual

Clean hair. Clean sheets. If cleanliness is next to Godliness, then I’m sitting on God’s lap [the right and left hands are taken by Jesus and the Holy Spirit if I remember correctly.]

1. INSTAGRAM

No iPhone for me, so once Droid got this, I jumped on the Instagram train and I’m very much enjoying it.

So, I have some nail polish…

A vintage Picky Bar sticker I found in a coat I hadn’t worn in a while…[I think they changed stickers over a year ago, yikes]

Batter up! Look out big leagues!

Good Morning, NYC!

2. FROZEN PINEAPPLE

Unrelated instagram photo. Me just trying to become more awesome by being just like Jesse (aviators + PBJ on a rice cake).

Just into it right now. No particular reason.

3. THE HOUSE OF GOD BY SAMUEL SHEM

A good read…

Like “Once a Runner” for those in the medical field…

4. HAVING A TRAINING LOG

I don’t care what you use, just keep track of your running – not just what you do physically, but also how it fits into the context of your life.

Trust me, it’s therapeutic, if any of you need running therapy like I do.

Last night, as I was ranting in it (similar to what I did on this blog), I came up with this [no verbatim, but this is the gist]: “It’s not the numbers – numbers will be numbers – it’s how you think about those numbers and frame them within the context of your life that determines your attitude towards running and if it’s enjoyable.”

I know, really new stuff, huh? Attitude is everything? Never heard that before…

5. BIC BANDS + COOKIES FOR KIDS’ CANCER

A marriage of two of my favorite things! Cookies For Kids’ Cancer is the charity for May and June that BIC Bands is giving to!

I plan on ordering several new headbands…

TELL ME: ANYTHING ROCKING YOUR WEEK? ORDERING A HEADBAND? READ HOUSE OF GOD?

Until next time…

Practice Sucks, But I Love The Shoes

In high school, I had a shirt that said “Practice Sucks, But I Love the Shoes.” I still feel that way. I should have never gotten rid of that shirt.

Competing > Training/Practicing.

What brings this up? Well, today I did 3 x 1 mile at “10K pace,” which if you know me, the first question out of my mouth is “what is my 10K pace?” If I ran a 5K at 7:22 average, do I like add 30 seconds per mile? 15 seconds per mile? Is there some sort of algorithm or equation to figure this out?!?

So, rationally, I decided that I should try to shoot for 7:30 and maybe even faster than I ran that 5K because, clearly, I should be better now than I was a week and a half ago and this plan makes complete and total sense. Take the “10K pace” and morph it into “run faster than you did in a race.”

Don’t worry, I don’t understand my running brain either.

Those three miles ended up going down as 7:50, 7:37, 7:38.

That’s probably about right, but at the time I thought “WHY ARE YOU SO SLOW?! HOW DID YOU RUN A 5K AT 7:22 AVERAGE?!? RUNNING MAKES NO SENSE!”

The “rest” was 1 minute, which ends up not being much rest at all (as I quickly came to find out). Also, don’t think “OMG – 1 min that isn’t  a lot of rest, that isn’t enough, what do I do?!?” when you’re running the first repeat. It doesn’t help anything.

You know, this blog, in addition to my training journal, is a useful tool in tracking my attitude towards running.

It seems that I’ve moved from the “grateful to be running again happy with anything” Meggie to the “overly ambitious – nothing is quite good enough – you need to try harder – why can’t you run faster right now” Meggie. And it seems this transition happeend after that 5K I ran.

Ro and Lo, can you make Grateful shirts?

Not sure exactly why that happened, maybe completing a race made it seem like I was back?

I need to remember the following:

1) I was injured for a while; no training for essentially 4 months (unless you count SoulCycle).

2) Being impatient to run faster asap solves nothing. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

3) I run for fun. Chasing goals is fun, but not at the expense of being frustrated.

I’m sure Dr. Seuss could have said that more eloquently, but that’s what I’ve got for you tonight.

Also, note to self – do those PT exercises. You’re really slacking. Just because you feel less pain does not mean you should stop doing all of the things you did to get better.

Wow, this was quite therapeutic,blog. This writing thing really does the trick. Anyone else feel better or is it just me?

And, if any of you keep reading this crazy blog after tonight, I commend you.

TELL ME: HMMM – ANYTHING…A JOKE? HOW MAYBE YOU MAKE IRRATIONAL RUNNING DECISIONS? YOUR NEXT RACE? YOUR FAVORITE SUNSCREEN?

Always looking for good sunscreen – Neutrogena Ultra Sheer has been a favorite for a while.

Wow, talking about sunscreen, I’ve reached a new low. Let’s quit while I’m ahead…

Until next time…

Never Satisfied Disease

Never Satisfied Disease, synonymous with Over Achiever’s Disease and a penchant to be a glutton for punishent…

Heard of it? Suffer from it?

I do.

In case you missed it [ahem Eugene Marathon people - WHERE IS MY GINORMOUS TROPHY for that age group win because I so deserve it - I WANT ONE LIKE THOSE GIRLS ON TODDLERS AND TIARAS GET], I ran a 5K recently. I ran 22:53, which was a PR by a little over a minute (1 min and 5 seconds if we’re getting super specific here).

Me. Finishing. It says so above my head.

This picture makes me think I should not go to 16 Handles in the near future. Or ever.

I was pretty pumped for a while, all hyped up my pastries, Picky Bar samples (wait, no, I didn’t eat some, not at all), and Believe I Am conversation.

Pastries for PRs! Holla.

Then, the over-thinks set in…

[If you're actually curious, it was when I was in the shower. I thought about yelling to Lauren while I was in the shower to confirm that my over-thinks were not crazy and then I realized that yelling to someone to come talk to you about why you now feel down about your race while you're in the shower makes you crazy and, therefore, I should just quit while I was ahead in accumulating crazy points.]

I convinced myself that…

• it really wasn’t that great of an improvement because the last 5K I ran (23:58 in March 2010) was very hilly, so if you take those hills into account it really wasn’t a PR.
• I only improved a minute over a year – that’s not good either.
• And, yeah, I should really have not eaten those pastries as it seems I didn’t deserve them…

In my showering misery of how much I sucked at running, I wondered why I did this to myself. Why do I sabotage my happiness when clearly I did something pretty stellar for me that day?

IF I RUN FOR MY OWN JOY AND SATISFACTION, WHY DO I THEN SABOTAGE IT?

I know, it makes no sense to me either.

Anyways, here’s how I turned those thoughts around (with a little help, of course) — a little gardening of the mind, to steal from Believe I Am…

• I ran a 1 min PR off a very little training [maybe 5 workouts total before this race]. I ran that previous PR after a good bit of training.
• I negative split. I ran smart.
• I was injured for about 4 months and can run now. Running is fun.
• I had a lot of fun racing. Fun is good.
• I had an awesome cheerleader who probably doesn’t know just quite how much I appreciated said cheerleading.
• I wore cool shorts.

So, yes, in the end, it was a good day. High five, self! Way to go, self!

It’s probably good to not always be completely satisfied – you want to keep the fire to keep improving, right? But, sabotaging the fun in your hobby-running? Not exactly a recipe for enjoyment and satisfaction.

TELL ME: ANY OF YOU SELF-SABOTAGE YOURSELF AFTER RACES? BEFORE RACES? DURING RACES? IF NOT, TELL ME YOUR FAVORITE PASTRY THAT I MUST TRY AFTER MY 10K THIS WEEKEND.

Also, you all need to go congratulate a Mr. Jesse M. Thomas on his Wildflower REPEAT win this weekend. Read his post about it, too. It will make his win all the more impressive (at least it did to me, competing with a lot of pressure is not fun).

If you’re wondering what Jesse’s secrets are, I know them as I saw them first hand. His secret weapon is a peanut butter and jelly on a rice cake, which I am going to start eating exclusively until I become as awesome as Jesse. He also potentially eats more than Michael Phelps [I want to know how they stack up in terms of calorie consumption], but he also works out about 16 hours a day. It’s incredible.

I bet Jesse could eat as much 16 Handles as he wanted to. Only reason I would ever do a triathlon – so I could eat more 16 Handles and such. Well, maybe not the only reason, but one of the top reasons.

Until next time…

[Momentary] Motivation Slump

Blame it on the dementor weather (that is Harry Potter code for rainy, cold, misty, overcast, etc). Whatever it was, I put off my Wednesday tempo til Thursday.

I’ve never put off a workout due to lack of motivation – I’ve only done that for sickness or severe lack of sleep.

The RC had a 4 mile tempo written for Wednesday. I did about a 5.5 mile run on Tuesday with pickups and the pickups felt really hard, like I’d run a race longer than a 5K the previous weekend.

Wednesday rolled around and I just did not feel like running. At all.

I’ve had bouts where I’m tired or cranky, but usually I’m able to get myself out the door in a few minutes. Yesterday, the last thing I wanted to do was lace up my Lunarglides and trudge through a tempo. [And, if you've ever read this blog, you know me and tempos don't go so well together. It's all mental, btw.]

So, I scraped it and went to dinner with Jocelyn instead.

And, I felt really guilty about it.

Was I sick or depressed? Was something wrong with me? Here I am, able to run after months of whining and complaining about not being able to run due to injury and I didn’t run just because I didn’t want to do it?! I felt like I’d been a liar all those months ago where I was hoping and wishing I could run just 10 minutes. And I felt bad for all the people I know who are injured and can’t run and who would give their left arm to be in my position.

I ended up doing the tempo today. I took two “time outs,” [about 30 sec breaks] which is par for the course for me. I need to figure out a strategy to get myself to stop taking “time outs” as I’m pretty sure that is against the principals of a tempo run.

If you’re into numbers…8:05, 8:44, 8:11, 7:59 if you can’t see the tiny print…

The pace was supposed to be “MP” which, I guess, is 8:15 (for a 3:35 marathon). I’m still lacking that internal garmin, it seems, and mile 2 must have been some sort of mental lapse/freak out.

Also, how does one run a 5K at 7:22 average that felt hard, but not deathly and said tempo today felt hard and was slower than that.

I really don’t understand running sometime.

So, moral of this somewhat whiny, probably dejected sounding post is:

1 – I felt really guilty not wanting to running yesterday, seeing as an injured person would probably die to try a tempo right now.

2 – The saga of the tempo continues. It’s like my own running soap opera. Maybe even better than the drama on Dance Moms.

Time to continue beating myself up…or just watch an episode of Dance Moms.

Oh wait, before I go, a funny joke!

What kind of fish goes best with peanut butter? — A JELLYFISH!!!

TELL ME: FELT GUILTY SKIPPING A RUN? ANY GOOD JOKES?

Until next time…

 

 

 

What’s Up Wednesday

The usual…

Maybe when my blog turns 1, I will stop this weekly list. I’d need to figure out exactly when I started my blog then (July 2011…or was it June?!?). Anyways, here goes

1. NATURE

I’ve been in kind of a funk since leaving Oregon. Maybe I really am not a city girl.

Look at all this nature! Where are the forest fairies and hobbits?!

It was nice to run or elliptigo without having to stop for stoplights or be near a highway. Or have tons of people to dodge. I even went on bridges over the river. I know — SUPER NATURE-Y.

I did not pee in the woods though. I didn’t get that at one with nature, yet.

2. GOOGLE FONTS

Apparently, you can get new fonts from Google Fonts. There are too many though and choosing one for my blog is proving difficult. Plus, I’m going to have to figure out how to then upload it to my blog.

Such a tough decision, committing to one font. Like committing to a nail polish color.

Thanks, Loren, for introducing this to me that will end up allowing me to waste hours at a time.

3. RICE CAKES

Not only is a certain Jesse M Thomas fond of aviators, he also has a special place in his heart, or shall I say, stomach for PB and J on a rice cake.

Maybe you recognize him from the cover of Triathlete Magazine? Or the jelly aisle of a Eugene, OR grocery store?

I had several PB and J rice cakes while at Picky Bars HQ. I forgot how good the slight saltiness of a rice cake is. Thanks, J-Bo, for the reminder.

4. OISELLE CHICKS

You guys are just cool. And, I think you out there reading should buy something from them because they are cool.

Me, Lauren, and the Oiselle gals (Sally, Sarah, and Mac)

Ok, besides the fact that they are cool, their products are made really well. There is a lot of thought put into the material, cut, fit, etc. Trust me, try the violet rogas and you’ll be sold. Ok, fine, if violet isn’t your thing, then any of the colors the roga comes in will do.

Lauren, you are cool, too. I felt bad leaving you out of the cool thing.

5. THE 5K

Join my revolution.

Why run for hours when you can be done in less than an hour?

Ok, the marathon is fine because its a big goal to work for and very satisfying when you finish.

However, I feel the weekend warrior set, such as myself, gets a little too obsessed with marathons.

THERE ARE OTHER RACE DISTANCES AND THEY ARE JUST AS FUN.

I’m continuing my post at campaigning for the 5K. Maybe Oiselle will make shirts that say “5K REVOLUTION.”

You know what would be cool for me? Running a race on a track. Maybe not a 5k though — that might get too long on a track.

Hmm, how do I do that….

TELL ME: ANYTHING ROCKING YOUR WEEK? THOUGHTS ON THE TRACK?

Me on a track might be embarrassing though. 90% chance that I would trip and fall.

Until next time…

Pre-Race Crazy Thinks

I suppose I should have written this post before I blabbed about my 5K result, impending 5K revolution, and so on and so forth.

Anyways, ye ol’ Eugene 5K was the first race I was going to actually try to race since October.

To be honest, I got a little nervous. Lots of thinks got all crazy, such as:

1) “What if I throw up at the end?”

This is a legitimate concern as sometimes I get really excited at the end of a race to be done and don’t care about the impending vomit feeling I feel. Luckily, my legs didn’t quite have it at the end of this one to kick it in, so no vomiting.

2) “IT BAND, WHY ARE YOU CHOOSING THE DAY BEFORE A RACE TO RE-FLARE?!?”

Yeah, my IT band did hurt the day before the race, naturally. I figured it was nerves, seeing as my IT band hasn’t hurt at the knee for a while, which is where it was hurting the day before the race. Lauren confirmed that mystery injuries popping up before races happens to even the best of us and you don’t argue with someone who is legitimately one of the best of us.

I do not lie. One of the best. You don't argue with that.

3) “Why do I even get nervous? Why do I care? Is it weird I care?”

Nope, there’s a whole weekend warrior set that cares. Sure, it isn’t as “high level” or “competitive” as college tennis, but I put some time into running and I care about it. I need to start owning that.

At least I look like I'm actually running in this picture.

4) “What if I look at my watch after the first mile and it freaks me out, like the first mile is too slow and feels too hard and then I completely sandbag the whole thing.”

Problem solved by Lauren wearing watch. Thanks, L-train! You rock.

Happy Girls....on the way to pastries.

5) “What if I think I’m better in my head than I actually am?”

The eternal debate in my head before races. Do I have an over-inflated opinion of my running self. Are my goals too lofty for what I can actually do?

6) “What shorts should I wear? What about hair – high ponytail or low ponytail?”

The wardrobe decision is always tough. I was really feeling the Oiselle Rogas and went with those. It was a solid choice. Went with the high ponytail, too.

Here are a few things that helped me battle the crazy thinks.

1) Busy-ing self before race.

Worked the expo with Believe I Am/Picky Bars. Didn’t have time to think about race.

2) Made goals besides time.

Goal was to feel strong at the end and to make my last mile the fastest mile. Incentive was a pastry. And, man, I wanted that pastry. So, I had to play it moderately smart in the beginning so I could run into Hayward Field feeling strong and not near death.

Must. Earn. Pastry.

3) Commit my mind to embracing pain.

C’mon, Meggie. It’s not even as long as an episode of Kardashians. You can take a little burn in your lungs and your legs for a while.

4) Have a support team that pumps you up before hand.

RC and RCF always have an encouraging word. L-train had a lot of good ones for me, too, such as “that girl you think you are is in there” or something inspiring like that. My tweeps/IRL friends (“in real life” if you’re not in on the lingo) like Jocelyn, Christine, Mason, Oiselle gals, etc wished me good luck. [If you don't have twitter, yet, you should get it just for that - good lucks before races and congrats/well-wishes after.] 

5) Wear something that makes you feel good.

Yeah, so the Violet Rogas didn’t quite match the Oiselle racing top, but I was really feeling those shorts. So, I went with it.

And, I warmed up in an OTC long sleeve, which made me feel like I was secretly fast or something. Kind of like wearing my Believe I Am “strong” tank all throughout my injury. I realize this sounds super loser of me, but, trust me, I’m not crazy – it’s the concept called embodied cognition. 

Maybe I'll start warming up in this top from now on...

6) Do strides before your race.

Sure you look like an idiot running back and forth, but it helps. I talked to Jemma (who runs for OTC as well, the 800, she’s really good) about strides the day before the race. She explained it helps your legs 1) turnover and 2) started getting used to lactic acid a little bit. Plus, RC said it helps raise your heart rate so the first miles isn’t such a shock. I mean, why am I arguing with professionals?!?

It worked well for me — this time, at least. I have another race in two weeks so we’ll see if the crazy thinks start up again.

TELL ME: SPILL YOUR CRAZY PRE-RACE THINKS. HEARD OF EMBODIED COGNITION? THOUGHTS ON IT?

I think it works, but then again I studied in the same jeans for 6 weeks while taking the boards so maybe take my clothing advice with that in mind…

Until next time…

 

I’m Starting a 5K Revolution

That’s right, you heard it here first.

5Ks are rad.

Compared to a marathon, it’s like ripping off a bandaid.

The only thing I will give the marathon over the 5K is increased appetite. Every time you eat when you are training for a marathon is fantastic, seeing as you’re always ravenous come meal time. And post long-run breakfast is the best. It’s all I think about during the long runs.

And eggs on the side. And coffee. And a diet coke. And another meal two hours later.

However, racing a marathon is not fun, in my opinion. It’s so long and so tough and all I think about is “I’VE BEEN RUNNING FOR 3 HOURS…WHY AM I STILL RUNNING?!”

Yep, still running.

So, I’ve taken it upon myself to start a 5K counter culture within the weekend warrior set of runners. Any ideas for group name?

Why am I so hyped on 5Ks? Well, it just so happens I ran one this weekend. I ran 22:53, which was a PR by a little over a minute. The kicker here is that I WON MY AGE DIVISON and was 9th female.

I NEVER WIN ANYTHING IN RUNNING. [nor do I expect to]

I am so glad all of the fast people stayed home (or ran the marathon/half) as this had made my day and possibly my month. Ok, maybe year, too. I want to make myself a trophy that says I won something in running because this may never happen again. Maybe I will mold a #1 out of Smooth Caffeinator Picky Bars and then frost it and then eat it.

I had a little extra motivation, too. Lauren (Fleshman) rode around the course on her Elliptigo. You better do well when the 2x US 5K Champ is watching. She wore my watch, actually, and told me my splits at each mile mark + took on the role of head cheerleader. Thanks, Lauren! It was much appreciated.

Look cool, Meggie. Look cool.

I had a great time in Eugene – stickering Picky Bars, expo-ing with Picky Bars and Believe I Am, racing, cheering on the Oiselle gals + more in the half/marathon, Ellliptigo-ing, experiencing “nature” (“oh, look! nature!” – says the New Yorker), slowly integrating myself into Picky Bars until they give me a job (ha! just kidding), bugging [Loren] Polster to revamp my blog (his work is amazing), discussing most everything with Lauren (“Lauren, do you think it’s stupid that I care about running?” “Lauren, just tell me I’m cool because you’re cool.” etc etc etc), and figuring out a way to get @jessemthomas to one day tweet back to me.

Here are some pictures, if you care. If not, just scroll down quickly.

Me. Running.

I PR'ed! Thanks, Lauren for helping!

Slowly, but surely, integrating myself into Picky Bars full-time staff....

Polster rocking the expo.

Oh hey, Meb. What up? I just won something. Can I wear your medal?

The Oiselle gals are the coolest. Seriously, the coolest.

TELL ME: BEST PART OF YOUR WEEKEND? TRIED THE OISELLE ROGAS? IF NOT, YOU SHOULD.

Until next time…