33 Days....

It is absolutely unbelievable that in just 33 days the race will be here and over.  More amazingly is that I already feel ready.

Today I did a long run by myself - 12 miles in 2.17.  This is my best time yet.  I took great care to stretch really well before and after,  I discovered a perfect set of stretches for the muscles I seem to over use on my runs, particular my glutes!  Not sure why my glutes get worked so hard - tried to figure out how my gate makes that happen.   But that is where I feel the pain every time at the end.  So the term pain in the butt is a very true statement in my life right now.  But the stretches I am doing feel oh so good and I find myself just stopping in the middle of something I'm doing to stretch.  I think this may be a runner's habitual action.

 
On my way home from the trail my thoughts were having their own race today.  I was filled with awe and satisfaction.  Awe because it still blows my mind that I am running at all much less the distance that I have trained to now achieve.  When I started this I could barely do  2 miles very strong.  Though it has taken a solid 8 months I now stand here at a 12 mile run looking back instead of 2 miles looking toward what seems like the impossible. THis leads to satisfaction.

I have such a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that I feel reaching these run goals is enough.  I hate to say it and I don't mean disrespect to the race itself, but if I didn't even run the race I feel so proud, satisfied and good about the training and achievement; that is as good as a medal.  So it's almost as if I am looking at the race with the idea that the race is the REWARD to all the hard work instead of the hard work at the end of training!  So what I am looking forward to with the race is being at Disney, being with all those other runners who have trained faithful as well, experiencing the thrill of the run, and the rush of the finish line - nothing is like the thrill of the finish line!  Oh yes, the medal.  


Another random thought is:  It's also funny to me that just two days ago on my six mile run I set a new goal for time that really boosted my motivation to continue training after the race.  I ran six miles in 1.05.  I never have been able to get faster than that time.  Today I actually tried to push to get under 1 hour for six miles and was so disappointed I didn't do it.  I don't want to waste energy trying to do that now before this race.  I just want to do the entire 13.1 under 2.45.  So I am goaling to work getting a 59 minute 6 miles when I hit the trail after the race.

On side note for the day:
I came home after 12 miles and rested for about an hour and then hung window coverings in my bedroom the rest of the day.  This entailed climbing up and down repeatedly on a ladder.  I'm really feeling the burn tonight.  Ouch~!

Thanksgiving Victory- December Challenge and....

Well, Thanksgiving week is officially over. I am -have to say- PROUD of myself!   I didn't overeat and I didn't gain any weight, in fact I feel a little slimmer.  THIS IS A FIRST of my lifetime!  It's a victory that is a great feeling.  I do have one conclusion on this matter:  I was so busy cleaning, cooking and hosting I didn't have time to over eat!   So "yay" for ME~!

 I think I've made it clear how detrimental school being out is on my running discipline and that was the case this week.  I did get two short runs in on the road just outside my neighborhood, which were really intense and I counted as a good runs.  They are my short two and a half milers with two nice inclines  going up and over an over pass.  So it was not all a loss.  BUT there was no LONG RUN this week.

I'm not sweating it.  I feel good.  I feel VERY confident.  And this worries me a little!   JK.  It's never good to feel too confident I think.  My middle age is showing in that remark.

My run partner, Lisa, and I have hit over 12 miles on our long runs twice now and that sets us up pretty good for 5 weeks left to the race. ( Just saying 5 weeks out is exhilarating!  I can't believe we are at this point!  )  Having done that we are where we know we can do this race.  So any other long runs are icing on the cake and it is now just important to stay fine-tuned and keep our fitness level at an optimum.

It's also important to factor in that two weeks prior to the race there will be a tapering down.  So that really only leaves three weeks of endurance and time training left.  Thinking ahead about those two weeks before the race is the huge interruption of Christmas week!   We will be in the mountains of North Carolina at that time.  I guess any runs I get in that week will definitely be including "hills" - so tapering down will probably begin promptly!

As I look at December full face I see a calendar already full in the next two weeks with appointments that are tempting to throw my training schedule off.  I am going to have to be strategic and in control.  I am going to have to prioritize and make training my number one unmovable standing appointment.  That has never worked for me so far, HA!   However,  I do feel an inner gut feeling of intensity that only a person registered and committed for a race feels.  It is instinctual and intense.  I think it's called FOCUS.

(just added a previous blog to update on my "Runner's Slump")

A Good TWELVE....

I'm sticking this post in between my post on "SLUMP" and "THANKSGIVING VICTORY".  I realized I never "came back" after my "Slump"to clarify what happened next and that probably left the thousands of my faithful readers "hanging".  (yes that's sarcasm- I have one follower and according to my stats I have maybe 40 random readers a month- so this is for all of you, whoever you are and my sister..the follower!)

After my slump which lasted a full week I met my run partner Lisa for a 12 miler on Bayshore Blvd in Tampa...a runners MECCA!

Not sure how I thought 12 miles was a good icebreaker for a slump but it was on my schedule so I did it.  I had to prove to myself the slump was random, plus it was time to get a 12 miler in together.  I made myself do it as if I had a regular week of good runs to prepare me.  (silly girl!)

We had our running belts tapped off with full water bottles, our mini cliff bars, a good night's sleep and a mapped out route.  We ran 2.4 miles straight down a side road, talking consistently and forgetting our last agreement not to talk so much.   When we came back to our starting point to begin the 10 miles up and back the Boulevard we made a bathroom break and then started our Run/Walk interval.

Oh that first 5.9 miles was wonderful!  The breeze, the sun not fully out, lots of energy and adrenaline pumping because we were feeling so strong compared to our last partner run.  I knew it was probably an omen to keep saying how strong we felt and how much we had improved in stamina...blasted over-confidence!

We got a little disoriented as we finished out that first straight 5.9 before we turned around to go back. We had never run over to Davis Island and the road split and the side walk didn't follow the GPS route.  We stopped momentarily to check the GPS and take a bite of our mini bars.  We headed back feeling awesome about our time and distance and then...well you know....you can guess.   The sun blasted down like a space heater over head and the breeze dissipated and we started hydrating like crazy because the heat was rising.  I drank so much water I started rationing the last have bottle desperate not to be left with two empty bottles for the last few miles.

 Then it hit me hard...what, I'm not sure.  It was a mix of I'm gonna throw-up because I drank too much, sun stroke or I didn't stretch when I should have....whatever it was I bottomed out with two miles to go.  I reasoned that we should not have ran straight out of the gate so hard then we would be having our endorphin push instead of exhaustion.  (I say "we" even though "I" was the only one who was struggling).  Regardless I began to whine.  Lisa was so patient and encouraging. I saw clearly the benefits of a run partner.  Though I wished I had been the strong one....oh well there's always next time! LOL!

We stopped briefly to stretch and I whined some more.  I cut short a couple run intervals elongating the walks.  Then I got sick of myself!  How pathetic that I was cheating on a three minute interval and there's just two miles to go....SUCK IT UP CARMEN!  I just pushed through the next two intervals and I saw the sidewalk getting shorter toward our finish line and I let it go.  Just let it go.  It was that easy.  Just let the exhaustion and whining go.

We got to our cars and drank the extra bottles of water we had in our cars and talked.  We figured out our time and we were pretty encouraged.  I apologized profusely for my breakdown and I vowed in my head I would never whine like that again!