I’ve been talking a lot about my pre-training for my October Bethlehem Running Festival races. Pre-training will officially turn into training this week.
What does the week look like now that it’s go time.
4 mile run
5 mile run
4 mile run
7 mile long run
Am I ready for this level of training? I guess we will find out. Here is what I do know……
I am down now over 15 pounds thanks to following WeightWatchers!
I am 100% off all supplements and currently my Yorvipath dosage is keeping my calcium stable. I’ve gone for several runs in the heat, with fast paces, and even shortly before my injection was due without issues. Fingers crossed this keeps up.
I will say that I feel once again like me. I will also say that after Natpara getting pulled once I got used tot his feeling that part of me worries that something similar will happen. Although I don’t think this will get pulled, I think my concern is more about insurance suddenly not approving it. It is nice not to constantly deal with effects of low calcium and have a stable level at 9.6!!!
With that being said, I do feel like I am at a good place to begin this training plan. There are no excuses. If I follow the plan it is on me. If I don’t it is on me as well. As long as my Yorvipath continues to work, I need to do my part.
Maybe the secret isn’t being the best of the best.
Maybe the secret isn’t running harder or faster.
Maybe the secret isn’t anything other than…..
Just to keep plugging along. To keep moving. To not give up. To just keep moving.
Down to 6 weeks till Brooklyn.
It’s not exciting or fancy, but I am plugging along.
That is what I’m doing.
It’s not bold or exciting, It’s just getting runs, biking and cross training.
It’s just not giving up.
Just plugging along. Doing my thing. I’ve been “following” a training plan, but I’ve been following my way. Maybe doing a indoor bike run instead of mid week run. Changing up runs, but getting them done.
Sunday, I went for my long run. Normally a long run would be done at a much slower pace, but I had a plan. I would walk the first mile. Then I would do 5 miles at what I might think of doing at the half and then slow for last mile. For the most part, I stuck to the plan.
Mission accomplished.
Here is the thing though, I needed to remind myself to control my pace…. And I did. I ran the paces that I wanted. The only change I made was was the last mile. Instead of walking it, I ran like it was the finish and then walked the last quarter mile.
The best part of this run is that I felt like I could keep going. So there is that.
I did not run it this year, but happily tracked several friends who did. It’s nice to be on the support team only tracking. Although I must say for a half, the NYC half is a great race. This year they had excitement of running over the Brooklyn Bridge. To to say that made me a little jealous.
That being said, even if I was scheduled to run it I would have been sidelined as I ended up having a stomach bug. You can run through a lot, but a stomach bug isn’t one…. At least not for me. I didn’t even make it out for my 6 mile run as I was passed out on the couch all day.
After sleeping all day, then going to be for a solid 10 hours, I woke up feeling better. I took the day off of work. My appetite wasn’t total back but did have energy even though I had some symptoms of low calcium this morning. It was a good day to catch up on cleaning out and up in a way you can only do when on one is home to get in your way… LOL
Anywho…. Back to the running……
I’ve been thinking and looking at my last few half marathon times. They have all been in right around 3 hours.
So the question is can I do better? Do I want to push to do better? And if so, I need to keep going with my training.
This past week I feel good about all that I accomplished. Going into this training plan, I recognized that I would not be able to follow it to perfection. that being said, I do want to follow the training days if possible even if I don’t follow the miles. I feel for a variety of reasons that it is not in my best interest to run every run. I plan to substitute biking for running, some elliptical and who knows maybe even swimming. The swimming might be a stretch.
As I’ve said before, this plan is to train to run on tired legs. Ha! Anyway, I only missed one workout this week. I did switch training days, biked instead of ran, and just did what needed to do.
I am trying to go into this training also by not adding any extra calcium to my daily intake. When I first became hypopara, I trained like I had no issues. To be honest, I had not because I was keeping my serum calcium levels up, adding extra calcium for long runs and just going about business as usual. Right up until I took my first 24 hour urine test and it was well over 500. I’ve adjusted, but since being Hypopara the only time my 24 urine test came back normal was when I was on Natpara. As for now, levels while still hi9g are in the mid 300’s. I’ve been lucky so far not to have nay issues with these high levels. Except, of course, for the anxiety it brings.
So with my training, I don’t want to add extra calcium just for the sake of adding it. I’m will add if necessary if I feel like my levels are dropping. You know that whole guessing game since there is no at home calcium test. Anyway, this means I will try to plan my training around when I’m taking my pills. So far so good. I’m sure once I go for longer runs I will need to adjust. Adjust here. Adjust there.
Sunday run. Taking on some hills too.Literally dripping when done
I have been also working on controlling pace. A work n progess
This week coming up, I already know instead of an 8 mile run that I will turn that into a 24 miles on the bike. From what I could find online the ratio is 3 bike miles to 1 running miles. That is what I’m going with.
Felling good. Tired, but a normal tired and that is all I can ask for. I’m falling asleep as I type this, so I think it’s time to say goodnight.
There is something to be said about waiting until you are ready to do something to actually start. There was no dread today. There was no, “I’ve go to go out for a run today,” said with dread.
None of it.
Today was a “I am going to go out for my run as soon as I’m done with my coffee” kind of day.
I can tell it has been a hot minute since I’ve seriously run as I couldn’t find my Garmin. Still can’t. Still looking, but I also didn’t let that deter me or stop me from getting out the door.
I was excited. It was a perfect day for running. The not too hot. Not too cold kind of day. No jacket required. At least for me as I always run hot.
My NYC Half training plan stated with a 3 mile run and that’s what I did. I didn’t watch pace, but did keep it as a conversational pace which I 100% did as I was on the phone the whole time! I walked when I got out of breath, but for the most part stayed at a stead pace.
Not too shabby if I do say so myself!
In all seriousness….. Not too shabby. I have not been doing anything unless you count testing and eating Christmas cookies. I’ve done a few walks, but have not run since I really don’t know when. Hopefully this is the beginning of a good training cycle.
I’ve got a plan loaded into Training Peaks. I am doing the Hal Higdon Novice 1, because let’s face it…..I am starting from scratch.
One day at a time…. One run at a time…. One workout at a time.
This is what it feels like to have fire again:)
This is what it is like to remember to show up for yourself.
I had thought about it, but was not motivated. I could not force it. I could not fake it until I felt it. I just wasn’t there.
Not even a smidgen.
I couldn’t pretend. I couldn’t show up. It’s not even that I wasn’t motivated. It is that I just didn’t care. I didn’t miss running. I didn’t miss working out. I didn’t even have a spark.
I was tired. Like really, really tired. Now to be honest, I’m still tired. I’m still sore. I’ve still got a lot of things going on. Working full time, baking, and medical stuff. But there is a difference now.
I am actually ready to begin. I am not being forced into it. I want to do it. This is good now too because I got into the NYC Half Marathon. My training plan starts next week and here’s the thing……… I am excited to be starting. I am excited to try again.
I do also have a motivation. I had my physical earlier this month. Somethings expected. Things like being overweight. Cholesterol going up a little bit but not enough for medication which I am happy about. I don’t want to add anything else as the Hypopara is enough. Super High urine calcium levels as always (due to meds/calcium needed for the Hypopara) – Not unexpected, but concerning. Not much to do right now as I don’t qualify for the trial of the PTH therapy. The surprise was the pre-diabetes.
Whelp……….
That will be a wake up call.
Although this wasn’t what made me ready to start. This was the final motivation to do so. Timed perfectly with getting into the NYC Half.
So here is being ready to train. Missing the feeling of running and wanting to be better. What is nice is that I will be doing a recheck of my labs in March to see if a follow up is needed, but this is same time as the HM.
Here’s to doing better.
Here’s to feeling better.
And most of all….
Here is to actually wanting to Start again.
I’ve already taken the first step and started at a gym getting set up to work out.
I know it won’t be easy. I know my body will resist. I will be sore. I will be tired…… but here’s the thing
So my last post about unmotivated seemed to start my summer theme, but…..
It’s been a minute and I thought I would re-introduce myself and my new motivation.
Hello there!
My name is Christine and I think I am a runner?
I think….
But I am also a home baker busy with my new Cottage Food Baking business. Baking, researching, practicing, plotting.
I also work part time outside the home at a child care center. If you have ever worked with 3 year olds, you know that it is exhausting in a fun kids are too cute way.
I am also a home maker. Although 1 of my boys is a college graduate this past June and now in the work force, I still have one more college student at home and a High School student.
I also have Hypoparathyroidism which makes everything a balancing act.
I love to garden.
I am a busy, busy, bee….
I am also a blogger? At least think I am. I’ve written many a blog posts in my mind never to have actually made it to WordPress. I hope to change that. I hope to change a lot of things. So with that let’s catch up!
Although I haven’t been blogging or training, I have actually been moving (somewhat). I’ve been pretraining training. For what you ask.
I am running the NYC Virtual Marathon for Sandy Hook Promise. Those of you here a while know that I had made it to the in person marathon team for the 3rd time, but this year gave my spot up for a few reasons. I was at peace with that. Then Uvalde and I wanted back in. So I am now ”running” and raising money for Sandy Hook Promise as part of a virtual marathon team. Even though it will still be 26.2 miles, the pressure is off.
Now before entering to do the virtual marathon, I had already signed up to do a Sprint Triathlon. This is one that I have never done, but have wanted to do. Sprint Triathlons have a special place in my heart as my very first race was a Sprint Triathlon – The NJ Iron Girl.
This was the race that started my crazy journey. That I started blogging to share my progress. That motivated me to run and made me realize that I actually like running. That got me where I am today because I cross trained and liked it which is the main reason I liked the idea of jumping back into a tri. Although I do not enjoy the swim as much as others. The swim will be in the bay at LBI. It also requires training. I always say with a tri…. The bike, you can coast. The run, you can walk, but the swim….. you will drown. Not really because they always have safety measures, but you get it.
So I have been pre training. I’ve been doing some biking. Still running sporadically, but really no swimming except some laps at the summer pool. This will all change next week…….
Because my training plan will officially start and I will be off the couch and out the door!
So since this is supposed to be a running blog, I thought I would do something novel and actually talk about my running…. I know, shocking!!!
As you know my training for NYC Marathon has been all over the place. I started off great following my training plan right up until I didn’t. And while my training hasn’t been stellar with following the plan. I feel (especially after yesterday) that I have been doing ok.
You know the expression….. You do you
Well I have been doing me and it has been working. With all my issues both mentally and physically, I just started loosely following the plan and doing what I felt would work for me. Before all my issues, I’ve followed training plans to the letter T (what does that even mean?) with great results. The problem with cookie cutter plans is that when you are not the ”ideal” runner, they might not work for you. Even though I took that into consideration in the beginning, I took it to the next level recently. After yesterday, I would say it has worked for me.
What have I been doing?
Well not as much running as my plan has called for. On days where I had foundation runs, I might have done HITT, biking, combo of biking/running, or even yoga. Since my goal has never been about time, I really stopped worrying about training runs where I needed to hit certain paces/training zones. I would do the run my way. Once I got back on ”schedule” with my plan, my biggest thing was to make sure that I was getting in the miles for long runs which is really where I was lacking. Even then I needed to make sure not to jump my miles too quickly as I was behind. So I adjusted.
Having run multiple marathons, I also know what works for me in training and what doesn’t. I know runners who feel the need to run multiple 20 mile training runs for their marathons. I have done them and I know that for what ever reason they don’t work for me. I find them defeating. I find them hard in a way that is not good for me mentally going into an event. They just don’t work for me. I would much rather do 16 to 18 miles and then the next day do a few miles on tired legs. This works for me.
Now all that being said, yesterday I went out for my longest run this cycle and I started at noon which is about the time that I will be starting NYC. I wanted to see how my body would be at that time of day as normally I run right after I take my morning meds.
16 miles.
It went well. To be honest, it went MUCH better than I expected. I continued with the walking the first 3 miles as I ALWAYS start off too fast. Plus since being Hypopara it does seem to take my body a bit to warm up. Then my goal was to keep the pace in the mid 12’s. To keep it at a level that I felt that I could run more than walking. There was no walk/run time. There was just doing what I could. I found that if I paid attention to pace, ran the “slower” pace, and didn’t try to run something I can’t sustain that I could run. I could run without the need to walk. Now don’t get me wrong…. There was walking, but there was much more running.
In order to conserve my battery, I did the first 6 miles with no music. Just me and my thoughts. I am not a runner who minds being alone and it was nice. Maybe a little boring, but I reminded myself that NYC will not be boring. I normally do not listen to music on race day as I LOVE to listen to the crowds, the runners feet hitting pavement, and just taking it all in. Out alone in my town though it does get boring.
Holding back is what I realize that I need to do if I want to have a good day. Yes, I can run faster BUT I can not sustain those paces AND they are not good for my body or feet. As you can see, I kept a fairly steady pace. At the end though, I wanted to push it to see what I still had in the tank. You know the Finish Strong mentality. I pushed it to the point that my arms literally went numb (you know the feeling like you laid on them). It was a good training run both mentally and physically.
What I learned…… Starting later, I do need to adjust my calcium intake. At mile 10, I added Calez to my water for added calcium but maybe I should start earlier. I also need to add more as miles add up. Maybe even taking a calcitrol at some point during run. This is why my arms/hands went numb at the end. As soon as I finished my run yesterday, I came inside and popped 500 mg calcium and a .25 calcitriol as I felt a crash coming. This also may have been due to the faster pace at the end. Either way, I need to pay attention and adjust accordingly. One thing with calcium levels is that they fluctuate and you have to pay attention to the signs to adjust with them.
Another thing that I made a mistake on yesterday, but to me I think it was a beneficial mistake……. I forgot my bag of fuel. This time around, I have been trying not to use gels but more natural (ok still processed) food. Since I started at 12, I didn’t eat lunch. So I ate a protein bar before starting out. I had a bag of almonds and some bars with me. I left the bag on counter, so I only had one Nutrigrain bar for the entire run. I ate half at mile 6 and then finished off around mile 12. While not ideal, I view this as a win because just think of how much better my body will feel when properly fueled on course. Learning to run/push when the tank is literally empty is not a bad thing.
Recovery…….
When I came home, I stretched. I took added meds. I had a chocolate cake batter smoothie (Sadly no actual cake batter, but healthy proteins). Then I soaked in some epsom salt. Followed by the use of my foot massager. Overall recovery was good. Although I know that I did not replenish both water and nutrients enough. We ordered Thia food and I really couldn’t even eat much as I wasn’t hungry. Weird…. but I will do better today.
Today as I sit here typing, I feel good. I feel like I just ran 16 miles yesterday. My feet are sore, but normal sore. My legs are tired, but normal tired. I will do some restorative yoga and be kind to my body. I will also make sure today’s smoothie has some properties that will benefit recovery.
Life is filled with one new beginning after another. The road to life has many turns, backtracking, ups & downs and hopefully always moving forwards. There are many stops along the way, but the trick is not to idle too long or you may get stuck in one place.
Each journey along the road is a start of something new filled challenges, hopes, dreams and sometimes set backs. When we come to the beginning of a new road, we can either face the challenge, avoid it, change direction or drive into it. Sometimes starting a new journey is familiar. Some times it can be scary. Often a journey begins with hope.
I am about to embark on a few new journeys. Two familiar, yet not the same. One totally new and even with planning, research, and knowledge still a little frightening, exciting, and unknown.
The first journey is the beginning of my NYC Marathon training for Sandy Hook Promise. This is a journey that I faced before, yet it will still be a different road with new challenges, thrills, and hopes. This journey is scary not just for the training of the marathon but the fundraising aspect of it.
For the marathon running, I have been there done this as the saying goes. That being said, I have not done the 2019 marathon whose weather, training, and everything in between still has not been written. I am embarking on a 28 week training plan that has already started. The plan I have chosen is a basic marathon training plan with a slow build up, but will get me to the finish line. For now, I am not setting any training goals other than to finish better than last years 6 plus hour marathon. I also, for now, am not in a place to think about more than just a basic marathon training plan nor do I want to do more than be prepared.
For the marathon fundraising, I have been there done that once before; but again that was last year. This year my goal once again is $3,000 which is a scary goal that I am committed to hitting. For those who have never run as a charity runner, when you make this commitment it is not I will try. It is do and if you don’t hit your mark, you have signed a contract that you will personally make the payment. This is why you must be committed to the cause you are fundraising to which I am. I have been a believer in Sandy Hook Promise since they first organized and I signed up with them. That being said, it is a scary prospect as a mother of 3 children, one finishing his first year of college, one who is currently looking at colleges, to make a commitment like this. So far I’ve raised $50…. Gulp…… That being said, I have just started and this fundraiser is a marathon in itself.
Lastly I will also be starting a new adventure in my treatment of Hypoparathyroidism. The medication, Natpara, awaits in proper temperature in my refrigerator for the Natpara Nurse to come Monday to teach me how to prepare the mediation and give myself the daily injections. This is an exciting road that I’m hoping does not have too many bumps as I work out proper dosage and also adjust calcium supplements and Calcitrol dosage. I’m not expecting this to go without a hitch but hoping that it is easy transition. Once I start this treatment and get levels/dosage where they should be with any luck much of the issues that come from not producing the PTH hormone will be gone and my body can go back to factory settings.
Fingers crossed!
New beginnings are a part of life and I’m happy to be taking these paths right now.
I’ve started training for NYC Marathon. I had been thinking that I was pretraining, but then I actually looked and yup, I’m training. I am following the Jeff Galloway “To Finish” Program and it’s actually a 26 week program. In looking at the calendar if I do my math correctly, I believe that puts me at week 3 of training. Oops, time to play catch up:)
Training for a marathon is a long process, yet at the same time it goes quickly.
I’m going to be very upfront in how things are going and I’m sure it won’t all be rainbows and sunshine. That being said, I am so lucky to be given this opportunity and remind myself that I am not doing this for me, but for Sandy Hook Promise.
Anyhoo…. Even with the “To Finish” program, I know that I will be giving it all I’ve got.
I went out for a run. I was just shy of 5 miles at 4.7, but it happens. I used the ratio of 3 minutes run to 45 seconds walk. It seemed like a good ratio, but I’m still feeling it out. I will say that I liked it. I tried to keep my run part around 11 and walk not at a Sunday stroll nor a power walk, but somewhere in between. It seemed to be a good balance as my overall pace was 11:17.
As I was running though, I was trying to connect my body to where my mind is which is harder than you think. In my mind, I still am so much faster. My body disagrees. Besides that I also have to reconcile that with the run/walk method there will be times that I’m out for my run where I’m going to be walking and people will see. That’s a mental thing, but one that I will deal with too.
Here is the thing….. I can only do what I can do. Yes, running is very much a mental sport, but in the end you can only do what your body will allow. I’ve also got to use this training time to know when to add more calcium and magnesium. When I was training for Chicago, I had a doctor who kept my calcium levels in the mid normal range which may have made things better for running, but overall was not good for my health as it left too much calcium in urine (not good for kidneys). So I’ve learned more this last year and I’ve also got my specialist that is keeping my calcium at just below normal. That is good overall, but I do need to adjust more now on running days. It will also be a training exercise to know how much is enough and how much is too much.
Yesterday was not enough. It didn’t help that the night before I fell asleep and forgot to take my calcium and magnesium. I also should have added more calez during run and realized that a Epsom salt bath afterwards might not have been as indulgent as I thought it would have been.
This is what happens when your don’t hit the right balance. Your muscles dance which isn’t as fun as it sounds….
The Accidentally Running Mama 