Be Nice

Mar19

be-nice

I was talking to someone this week about my upcoming half this weekend.   Did I mention that I am running the NYC Half Marathon (13.1 miles) this weekend?    This is a goal race for me.   One that I’ve been training for.   One that I’ve thrown down the gauntlet and said I would like to run in sub 2 hours. I’ve been training, but I’m still doubtful.

I told my friend that I wasn’t sure how it would go.   I was nervous and hope that I didn’t choke under the pressure of it.  (Yes, there is pressure even for the middle of the packers).   Self imposed pressure maybe the worst.   Anyway, my friend shut me down.   She shut me down fast and with such a true and profound statement that I had couldn’t argue with.   What was so profound?

First she told me to trust in my training and pointed out that I have been running my ass off.   (I would love it if it would also run my pouch off, but that’s different).    She then went on to say the profound part that I will paraphrase….

“Don’t allow your inner voice to speak to yourself in a way that you would not allow other people to speak to you.    Imagine if one of your friends was saying the things that your inner voice was saying?   Would they remain your friend?   Would you put up with that?”

Let that sink in for a moment.

Read it again.

“Don’t allow your inner voice to speak to yourself in a way that you would not allow other people to speak to you.    Imagine if one of your friends was saying the things that your inner voice was saying?   Would they remain your friend?   Would you put up with that?”

Right!

Mind Blown!

If one of my friends said the things that I say to myself, I would be livid.   I would not listen their crap.   So why do I listen to it form my inner voice?   Why is my inner voice so negative sometimes?

Such as…

I should have pushed harder

I was so slow

I’ll never be able to do it.

Why didn’t I hit my paces

Can I do it?

As with many things in running, this also carries over to our non running lives (yes, we have those).  We have to stop being our own worst critic.   We have to get our of our own way and side step the negativity.   Most importantly, we should be our biggest cheerleader.   Now, I’m not saying we should be arrogant or obnoxious.   I mean that we should be treat ourselves the way our Best Friends treat us which is usually pretty awesome.   We have to have faith in ourselves.

This does not mean that we will always succeed in everything we do, but as I tell my preschool gymnastics kids’  “You will never know if you can do something unless you try.   And if you don’t do it this time, we can try again another time.   All you can do is try, try, try.”

I think that I need to take my own advise.

I know that I have put in the many miles to train for tomorrow

I know that I have done the speed workouts required

I will give it all I have and that will be enough

I know that I have run these paces before

I know that I can do it!!!

So all I can do is try, try, try…..

NYC Half

 

 

Whose in Control?

Mar11

There are so many things in our lives out of our control.   We all feel it.   We all know it.    We all want more control, but the truth of the matter is much of it is not in our hands.   We just have to roll with the punches that come.   Some harder than others.    This is true not just in life but with our training.

There are things in our training that our out of control.   Injuries and time just to name a few.   We know that there are other things in our training just like our “normal lives”  that we can’t control.    That being said,  we must learn to focus on what we can control.   The other things will either fall into place or not and again we have to just roll with the punches that come.

lista-control

Now just because I realize that I don’t have total control doesn’t mean that I am not working on the things that I can control such as…

  • Taking time for myself to get the runs/workouts I need.   If the work is not put in than the outcome will never change.   This is in my control.
  • Putting the effort into each workout.    It does no good to take time for said workouts if I am not going to do what needs to be done.   On days that I need to push and challenge myself, I can’t back down.  Not every workout/run is meant to be hard, but on the days that are supposed to be hard let it be hard.   Don’t back down.   Everything is hard at first and if it was always easy where would the challenge be?
  • Pay attention to how you fuel and recover.    I’ve mentioned this before that I  am working on figuring out my fueling for my runs.   As I said, you can’t run on empty and each person has to learn what works for them.
  • And just as in life, give yourself a break.   Some days you just don’t have it in you and that is ok.   The trick is to get back up and keep moving forward.
  • Never back down or give up.   I will stumble.  I will fall (especially on a trail, but I will always get back up.   That is in my control.

 

It’s time that I admit it…….. I may have started off as the Accidentally Running Mama, but I am well past that now.   I am no longer a beginner.   I am not accidentally running now.    I think after 3 marathons, countless other events, and the fact that I am training for a 50K kind of proves that I am running with purpose.   And even though I have been precise and followed my plans, I think that I am getting to the point that I need to take more ownership of my training.    Don’t take that as I am saying I don’t need my coach because I do.   I don’t even have one tenth of the running knowledge that she has.   What I’m saying is that I need to take my training off of auto pilot and take ownership of it.

I need to control what I can because that will give me a sense of comfort.

Win or loose

(Ok, I’m always in the middle of the pack),

it is up to me.

Up to me

 

What is in your control?

 

 

Don’t Run on Empty

Mar5

I am great at what to eat after a  run.  I have a variety of post workout protein drinks ready to go.   What I’m really not great about is what to eat before and even during my runs.  How to properly “fuel” my run.

I’ve been told that runners have their own language.   It is true to a certain extent, but I think most sports have their own language.   If you were to put me on the sidelines of a football game or any other sport, I would have no idea what they were talking about.   The thing with languages though is that anyone can learn them.   I’m learning the importance of fuel for running now

Full Definition of fuel

  1. 1a:  a material used to produce heat or power by burning b:  nutritive material c:  a material from which atomic energy can be liberated especially in a reactor

  2. 2:  a source of sustenance or incentive

They say that the body is the best designed machine.   I believe that to be true.   Just like a machine then, your body needs fuel to run at it’s best.   When you are running longer distances, fuel becomes so very important to you.   I’m not new to how important, but I’ve realized that I need to be smarter with both my fuel choices and timing of it.   As they say timing is everything.  Take it too soon and you’ve wasted it.   Take it too late and a run can go from good to bad quickly.     From experience I can tell you that for me it is hard to bounce back once you’ve waited to long to fuel.    I can also say that if you take it too soon and end up needing to refuel more often that can lead to problems too.   This is why I have started to pay attention to not only what I’m taking but when I’m taking it.   We train for everything else.   We also need to train for our fueling.

Fuel

This is where I am at.  I want to know how this works better.  I want to understand it because if I can understand it maybe I can actually do it better.   There is much to learn and I am only just beginning.

I have started to keep a detailed training log this year.   With all my runs to include weather, what I wore, how I felt, and when I fueled.    I really believe this is the piece that I’ve been missing.   Not that this is going to make me a super runner because I will never be that.   What it will help me to do though is be the best that I can be.    That is enough.

We all know that we should carb load before a run.   There is truth to this, but it is not the be all end all for the long run.   The body on average can only store 90 minutes of energy for a run.   This is why once you start pushing the distances fuel becomes so important.  That being said once you start pushing the pace, you need more fuel too because just like your car burns more fuel thw faster it goes so does the body.

As with everything in my life, this is a work in progress.   I will say though that I did discover a very tasty Honey Stinger Organic Fruit Smoothie gel that was soooooo very tasty.     This is coming from a GU girl too.    Live and learn.

I’ll keep you posted.

How do you fuel?

 

Run, Run, and Run Some More

Feb26

Looking at the calendar, my next big race is now less than a month away.   The New York City Half Marathon.   I’m very excited about it and I’ve been doing quite a bit of training to see if I can make it a sub 2 half.   Still not sure, but I will never know unless I try.    Now that being said, I realized something about a week or so ago too.    Something that didn’t really occur to me.  Yes, I’ve been speed training for the half but I’ve also started training for my 50K.  To me that seems so distant because it’s 3 months away.    I’ve learned though that doesn’t mean that I am waiting for the half to be over to start training for it.

Once I realized this, my new manta to get me out the door become

50K’s don’t just happen.

DirtyGermanFinishlogoweb

Now I know that to be true.   I expected it.   Somehow though in my mind I was still training for the half which made the 50K seem like it wasn’t real.   I realized though when I had a long run that was 14 miles.   That was my Aha moment.   That was the moment it all become real.   That was the moment that I thought to myself, “What am I doing?”

I’m hoping these are normal thoughts.   Then again I never claimed to be normal.

Someone asked me what I was training for and when I told them they thought I was crazy.   They asked me, “Why the hell would you want to do that?”

I really had no answer.   Other than that I thought it would be a fun challenge and that it is something I  do it for me..    They rolled their eyes and did not see the fun in it.   That is ok.   A lot of people do a lot of things for fun that I just don’t get.    Now I’m not saying all this training is fun, but it does clear my mind and allow me to pretty much eat what I want.    So for me that is a win.

Around the same time that I made the realization that I was in 50K training, something else exciting happened too.    I had joined a group that matches runners with those who can’t run.  Runners can be matched with individuals with special needs or the group I’m in their sibling, the unsung hero.  I was finally matched!  So now my running is really not all about me.  It is for both of us.   Someone that will inspire me to push further.  That is all I will say about my unsung hero for her privacy.      It’s a cool feeling though.      This is still very new to me as I’ve only recently been matched, but I can’t wait to see how this develops.

IRun

Know When to Hold Them

Feb19

As the Gambler says

“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run”

It’s so true.   We have all been there or maybe your one of the lucky one’s who have never lost their Mojo, but it happens.   I lost mine briefly after running the Philly Marathon.   Although I don’t know if it was a true loss of my Mojo as much as recovering from an marathon that I wasn’t fully trained to run.   I took a month off and was ready to come back to chase the 9 plus 1.

Maybe I haven’t been running long enough to need that long of a break.   Even though it’s been a few years, it is all still so new to me.   Plus I keep coming up with bigger dreams to keep my running shoes moving.

That being said there is nothing wrong with loosing your running Mojo.

Nothing.

I also think there is a big difference between loosing your Mojo and needing a break.

Here is the thing in life,  it is never the same.   It evolves.   It changes.   The things that we want and do change with the season of our life.  (I totally stole season of our life from my Mother who uses this all the time).   Anyway, just because we love something doesn’t mean that we don’t need a break from it.   Sometimes it will be a short break.   Sometimes it will be a long break.    And that is ok.

season

Case in point….

When my middle son was born almost 14 years ago, I discovered the art of scrapbooking.   I loved it.  I used to say that it was my happy place.    For a time it was and I did it every chance that I got.   I’ve got a shelf of scrapbooks to back it up too!   I loved it so much that I even became a Creative Memories Consultant to pay for my hobby.    Then something happened along the way.   It started to feel more like a job than an escape.   It no longer became my happy place, but another chore that needed to be done.   I stopped.

Now I will admit that I miss it.

I will admit that I still have all of my supplies and sometimes look at them longingly.

I sometimes even feel guilty that I haven’t gone back to it yet especially because my youngest only has a baby book done and not the volumes his brother’s have, but that is Mommy Guilt.

I do know though that when the time is right, I will go back.   It seems like a daunting task to think about now – organizing, planning, and all that will come with going back.  BUT when the time is right,  it won’t feel that way.   It will be with excitement that I dust off my supplies.   It will be with enthusiasm  that I put everything in place to start.    It will be with joy that I begin again.

Until such time, they can wait.

The same is true with running.

Your shoes aren’t going anywhere.

Your running friends although will miss you, will be there for you when you return.

It is ok to know when to fold ’em.

It’s ok to know when to walk away.

and

More importantly, you will know when it is time to run.

Life changes and sometimes  all we need is to step away with no guilt, no remorse, and no looking back.   I believe that there is a time and place for everything in our lives.   Sometimes we have to step away from something to allow something new to enter our lives.   If I hadn’t given myself a much needed break  from my scrapbooking, I know that I would have never discovered another happy place called running.

In the end, it boils down to doing what makes you happy.   Life is to short to do things that you don’t want to do.   The trick is though is to know when it is the right time to make a change.

Post Edit

After reading this my sister thought this meant that I was taking a break from my running.   I’m not.    I am running full steam ahead!   This post was inspired by a friend:):)

What to Wear? What to Wear?

Feb17

Weatherman, Weatherman, What do you see?

What is the weather going to be around me?

Well if you are on the East Coast, the answer is who the Hell knows.

weather  Every day it is something different.   We literally went from 9 degrees to 46 degrees with in a day.

Crazy!!

Now I don’t mind running in all types of weather as you really have to do what you have to do.   Some days that might even mean hitting the treadmill, but those are rare days.    What is driving me a little batty is that every day is something different.

Case in point –  3 runs within 4 days.  Each day was something drastically different.   The last run where it was warmer, I made the mistake of checking the weather.  The weatherman lied about when the rain was coming and I got caught in a torrential rain too.  Boo, weather people.  Boo!

No Joke.

No Lie.

It is making it so hard to figure out what to run in.   Now I’m not one to be cold, but I also don’t like overdressing for a run either.   These changing temperatures are making it difficult to know what to wear.   Normally in February it is easy to know what to wear.   Layers, Layers, and then some more layers.   And while that may be true some days this February, it is not true every day.

Do I need to cover my head?    Do I need gloves today?    Do I need a jacket or will my vest be enough?

Again, who the Hell knows.

A lot also depends on pace, because with a slower pace.   Today, although not a faster pace is fast enough.

As my good friend, Genine, said as we were discussing what to wear, “No matter what I do, I will regret something along the way.”

Pretty much sums it up.   But I always go on the side of regretting wearing too much than too little.

This is why at the end of some of my races I look a little like a bag lady.

Philly Marathon

Philly Marathon

But this system works for me.   It might not work for everyone and that is what I love about running.   To each their own:)   The trick is to find out what works for you which can also change on any given day?

How do you decide what to wear?

 

Friday Five

Feb12

It’s been a while since I jumped in on the Friday Five with Eat, Pray, Run DC, You Signed Up For What, and Mar on The Run, so I thought it was about time.   Today’s Friday Five….

My 5 Favorite Post Run Recovery Drinks

Now I will say what  grab will depend on where I’m running, how far, and what type of pace that I was running.    Sometimes it also depends what I’m in the mood for too.

Caramel Latte

Yup!   Hey milk is good for you after a run and a latte has a decent amount of milk.  I will also say that I am lucky enough to live within less than a half mile from a Dunkin Donuts.   When all possible,which is frequent, I will try to end my run there.    The slogan should be Christine Runs on Dunkin.    By now I no longer get a look when I walk in right after ending a run.   Not sure about you, but I don’t necessarily look my best after a run.    Anyway they know by now that it is a Iced Caramel Latte with whole milk and a banana from the counter.

11655358_10207139606877607_1772059935_n

Ooops,   I drank it before I got a picture of it!

One time during marathon training, I stopped and got a small one towards the end of a long run.   Problem was I still had 5 miles to go.   My coach couldn’t believe that I drank a latte and then went back running.

Smoothie

I love a good smoothie!   I change it up depending upon what I have in the house.   I usually put whole milk, dab of OJ, strawberries, banana, and some whey protein powder.   So good and refreshing.

Chocolate Milk

Sometimes a big glass of chocolate milk really hits the spot.  You can’t go wrong here.   I realized how refreshing this was after the Sandy Hook Sprint Tri when this was the drink given to you after crossing the finish line.   Though I would hate it, but it was perfect and hit the spot.

Water

Then there are days where all you want is a big tall glass of ice cold water.   This is especially true in the summer when you feel like you are melting.    I will use it to wash down a protein bar or some other form of protein.

Hot Chocolate

Right now I feel like I am living in the frozen tundra and I really am looking for something more than just recovery.   I’m looking to warm up as well.   On these days, nothing is more refreshing than a warm cup of hot cocoa.

Hot Chocolate

I’m thinking I will need this tomorrow.

So what do you drink for recovery?

 

Your Running What?

Feb10

fartlek

Word of the Week

Fartleks –

Because it’s fun to say, but maybe that is only because I’m a mother of three boys.    Now I realize it’s something fun to say, but it is also something fun to run.    Although truth be told, sometimes I get so caught up am I hitting my pace I loose some of the fun.   Not today.   Not with fartleks.

So what exactly is a fartlek you ask because I know that I did!

fart·lek
ˈfärtlik/
noun

Track & Field
noun: fartlek
  1. a system of training for distance runners in which the terrain and pace are continually varied to eliminate boredom and enhance psychological aspects of conditioning.
It sounds like some made up word to make non runners feel stupid.   Then I realized that the reason it was such a silly word is because it is from Sweden and it means “speed play” in Swedish.    It was developed in 1937 for a Swedish cross country team that was in need of both speed and endurance training.   So their coach, Gosta Holmer came up with the good ole fartlek.  I’m guessing it worked for them as all these years later we are still doing them.
Now I feel bad for thinking that it was a made up word.   Then again, what do I know?   Not much, but I do like to learn:)
So I’ve done them a few times.   Well actually twice now, but I think I enjoyed today more than the first time I did them.   The first time, I was more concerned if I was doing them right or not.   Then I found out that I was way overthinking it.    I sometimes do that.   Today, I followed the advice of my coach.   She told me to “throw some faster bits in for fun” up, down, fast, medium and just have fun with it.   So I tried to do just that.
You know what, I think I did have some fun with it.
Was it challenging?
You bet!
Did I have fun with it?
Yup!
AND
my last one was the best!
For 10 seconds I could fly hitting 6:08.
Now I could NEVER maintain that speed,
but that is the beauty of the fartlek.
I’m not supposed to.
I’m supposed to just enjoy my little legs moving as fast as they could.
On top of that, I didn’t feel like I was going to die!
Although I was happy to resume my normal pace to finish the run.
Running a fartlek is kind of like running like Pheobe from friends.
Running like a kid, just to run.
Do you Fartlek?

 

Why Ask Why?

Feb3

IMG_0237

I was recently asked why I would ever run a Marathon.   This person must not know that I actually signed up for a 50K, but that is a different story.   They were wondering why I would ever want to run a marathon especially a trail one where I ran over six and a half hours.   My answer is complicated and yet simple at the same time.

Let’s be honest, everyone has their thing.   Everyone has something that someone else might look at and question, “Why?”

Some don’t understand the drawl of Crossfit, Spinning, hot Yoga, biking, or the many other types of exercises available.   They might not be for you, but I bet they are for someone else.

So my question is why not?

What does it matter what someone wants to do?    They do not need our approval.   Probably aren’t even looking for it.   We are all grown ups here.  As long as we are not doing anything illegal or that is hurting someone,  to each their own I say.   This is one of the things that make the world so wonderful.   We are all different.   We all follow our own paths.   Even those of us with similar paths do not follow the same one.

Now sometimes people will ask why because they might not be able to wrap their head around why anyone would want to run for hours on end.   I will say that it is really not something that I can explain either.   I run these distances not only for the challenges of them, but also many other reasons.   The feeling of accomplishment afterwards is awesome, yet there is more to it than that.    I run them because I actually like to run them.   Yes, maybe not ever second of every run yet still….   There are times that you get into a rhythm with your feet, your breathing, your mind and you just keep going because it’s perfect.   There is truth in the runners high.  It is why we keep coming back for more.

Some things in life must be experienced to fully understand.   Like someone trying to explain to you what being a parent feels like.   It is something that is intangible till experienced.   I can tell you about the peace running brings me. The calmness felt after a good run.  The joy of crossing a finish line. The pride in having done something and many other things that running  brings no matter what the distance.   It still isn’t enough.   Some things in life must be felt to understand.   This is why runners as a whole usually stand (or run) together.

We know what most people won’t know until they experience it themselves is that

Running is Aweome

Amazing

Calming

and

Bad@ss!

So my question is not why?

My question is why not?

 

 

 

The Unraced Race….

Jan31

I was planning to run a race recently.   I was registered for it at least.   A race that I ran last year and really enjoyed.    I signed up and was planning to go.   I wanted to do this one even more after reading a little more about the person the race was in honor of in the Marathon Woman book.   He seemed like such an interesting person that I thought it would be great to run in now that I actually knew who he was.   What was that race?    The Fred Lebow NYRR Half Marathon.   This was also the first year that they were giving out medals.   Exciting stuff.

Then the East Coast got hit with a little storm you might have heard about.    A little blizzard named Jonas.    Now NYRR does not cancel any of their events easily.    Bibs were picked up.   Weather was checked.    They were waiting to see if they could still host the event and maybe change it from a scored event to a non scored which has happened before.    They very wisely decided Saturday evening to actually cancel the event.

Boo Hoo.

Since they already had the medals, anyone registered was able to pick theirs up.   One of my fellow MRTT Mama’s picked up our medals.   At first I thought that since I didn’t actually race the event since there was no event that I would give my medal to my youngest son who often drools over Mommy’s medals.    Then I saw the medal and gave it a second thought.   I did run this event last year and didn’t get a medal after all.

Fred

Now a lot of people get hung on “well I didn’t run the race, why would I want the medal.”    I’m sure not everyone picked theirs up.   We all have our superstitions…..   Some will run a half on their own in order to justify keeping it.  I didn’t feel that way.   I wasn’t planning to race it, so much as just finish it.  I was going to use it as a training run.  The truth be told, race day is just a part of an event.   There is all the training and preparation to even get to the start line.   I think in a situation like this where the event is canceled is very different from someone who does not show up at an event when run.    Part of me also realizes that I might feel different if I hadn’t run this event in the past.

Every sport has it’s superstitions and traditions.   Each runner has their own.   There are some who won’t wear a race shirt to the actual race and will only wear it once finished.    I wore the hat for a run 2 days before the scheduled event.   It’s nice and toasty.  I think I may have worn a race shirt on race day before.   Truth be told the I usually don’t because I am a creature of habit.   I may change the accessories, but my race outfit is usually very similar.    My race pictures will attest to this.   In some pictures, if it wasn’t for the bib it would look like the same day:)

Now this being said, I will admit that I would not by a  MCM Finisher t-shirt until I actually finished the event.    I thought I might bring bad luck if I bought it the day before at the expo.   I would say based on the line for them after the race, I was not alone in my thought process either.    Obviously not everyone felt this way though because I’m sure they sold a lot at the expo.

Truth be told there is no right thing or wrong thing to do.    I would never tell someone they had to do it my way and I certainly would not want someone to tell me I had to do it their way.    Each person has to make the decisions that are best for them.   That works for them.    Anyone who says otherwise probably isn’t reading this blog anyway:))

What are your race superstitions?