Cut yourself loose!

Today was my long run.  

I have made it a ritual to do them on the beach that is within 10 miles of my home.  

I have been running for 8 years now and have never ran on the beach until this year! What was I thinking?  The Beach is a perfect place for a long run. 

 First, I feel it is safe.  There are not many opportunities to attacked not the beach: too many people and no vehicles to be dragged into. (which makes me point out that no one honks at you - can I hear an amen!)  Secondly, you can run straight for 100 miles if you wanted to!   Thirdly, the terrain is constantly changing which gives you challenges each time you run, which is very practical for a racer to learn to  adapt to variables in a race.  Lastly, it's just sooooo beautiful!

Two weeks ago I had a fantastic long run - 11 miles!    So I hit it today looking for a good 10 so I can do a 12 miles two weeks before the race.  

However, when I stepped on the beach it was obvious it had rained the night before.  All the sand, from the shore to the dunes, was wet.  That means there aren't any areas that are solid down at the walking/running line of the shore.  To be more specific that means that it's soft and your shoe sinks into the sand.  This takes a lot more effort and strain on the muscles to run.  It's almost like resistance training! 

 Adding to that was the - what I call - beach poop.  I know that's gross but it literally looks like huge piles of it.  It's wet washed up wood/sponge/coral like stuff - brown and lots of it and all of it right at the line of running.  It's like the beach had a big bowel movement the night before - disgusting!  In addition, the waves had eroded the shore area, making the run area horizontally slanted and hilly.  This made me run with one leg bent and the other straight and go up and down to the point it made me nauseous!

To add insult to what I felt like injury- the time had changed. Where before the time change my early morning run had the sun just rising and low enough to hit the buildings on the beach to cause a shadow for 3/4 of the run, now I had full sun the entire run.  

As you can tell - I was whining and complaining all the way for the first two miles.  I had urges to call out to other runners, "this sucks right?!"  I was sure they were thinking the same thing.  I even stopped running to take some pictures of the things that were irking me.

That's when I noticed a man with his arms out trying to give a hug to a sea gull.  It took me a minute to see he was just trying to catch it - which is still strange.  By the time I walked up - yes walked - to him I saw why.  The sea gull had a large hook with fishing line and a very large lure on the end dragging it.  The woman with the man kneeled down and cut the line and then removed the hook.  

As a teacher/preacher I immediately saw my lesson/sermon for the day.  When something is entangled in something - cut it loose.  I knew what my hook and line was - my pathetic complaining and letting my negativity talk me out of a good nice long run.

As the freed seagull was let go he immediately took flight.

I think you get it.   Cut the things that keep you from flying loose - even if it's you.

That's exactly what I did - and I ran!    

9.25 miles

What do hormones have to do with running? I'm glad you asked!

Four weeks until the Half Marathon.

Despite the grandiose lofty goal of shaving off 15 minute of my first Half Marathon - I spent the first four months of my training totally defeated.  I never was able to get my speed per mile down.  The little I was able to run mile after mile I was "bottomed-out!"  I would get a mile in and be struggling and weak.  I was so discouraged and flabbergasted.  I really believed my mantras and determination would trump how I felt physically. I got a new playlist, changed up my route, listened to inspiring coaching, pushed myself, rested myself, fueled, hydrated and "carbed" up and "proteined" up! But my body did not respond to my aggressive effort!

Finally in the midst of this discouraging training I went for my 6 month checkup with my nurse practitioner I've been seeing at my Holistic Health Doctors office.  This nurse practitioner specialized in Thyroid and Hormonal Issues.  I've been on a Thyroid replenishing program for 6 years and Bio-identical Hormone replacement for 2.  After reviewing my blood work and hearing my complaints she revamped my hormone treatments.  I needed more progesterone and less testosterone.  So I went home and started my new regimen.

All I have to say is - within a week I hit the trail and half way through my first mile I felt completely different.  The bottomed-out feeling was gone.  I felt....normal!  A week and a half later I ran 7 miles on the beach without a break, strong, free, confident and surprised!  Even though I still need to get my time down - there is no denying my energy is entirely renewed as well as my mind set.  This has convinced me even more than before that the hormonal link is too big to be ignored!  

As women over 40 we need to bring our hormones to the table of discussion when we are not feeling ourselves.  Whether we are not sleeping well, not losing weight after sincerely trying everything or at a loss of energy.  

Don't ignore your hormones because your body isn't ignoring them.  In fact your body is giving you clues to it's desire and need to be replenished and balanced!

Almost 50 New Life Adventure!

This blog is all about an over 40 adventure!  It primarily has been about beginning to run and race after 40, but truly the essence is about new life and adventure in this second chapter!  It's my passion to experience and inspire to the fact that the second half of life is not the winding down of all that's awesome in your life - but it can actually be the ramping up of the best!

So I am very excited to announce my new adventure.  

Becoming a Life Coach, focusing on Personal Life Coaching, Wellness & Weightloss, Peri-menopause and Menopause Transitions and Spiritual Coaching!  

wholenesslifecoach.com

This new business has been such a swift and smooth transition because it is truly the epicenter of my passions and gifts.  I am currently still building my resources and product inventory and launching the business, however, Wholeness Life Coach is open for business! 

I have to say that two years ago I would have never dreamed I would be a business owner or a certified Coach!   That is why I want to encourage every one who is struggling to have a vision or see beyond where they are now.  It doesn't matter what you can't see and just because you can't see it doesn't mean there is nothing out there for you!  Just keep moving forward and things will open up!

It's true;  The best is always yet to come!

Overcome the mental challenge

15 weeks 

until the Half Marathon.

Most training plans are an average of 12 to 15 weeks.  So usually at this point the mind feels there is so much room to slack or play with the rigidity of the schedule.  So I took advantage of that today.
It also helped that I had an attack of mosquitos on my running trail and was forced to hit the parking lot for a while with something different!

This guy was still on me when I got back in my car-
yes that's probably my
blood in his pouch.  

That disruption helped in my decision to finally ditch my original training plan app that I downloaded  last month for a sum of about $19.   (Don't tell my husband!)   It focused on duration of time rather than distance and it absolutely had no clear cut weekly goals that I inspired me.   It advised me to:

"Run at a pace which you feel comfortable at any time. You shouldn't be out of breath.

  Run slowly so that you always have the feeling you could

 "really run a lot faster" if desired."  

WHAT???!!!! 

First of all, I never "DESIRE" to run faster.  Also, I am always keenly aware I can run faster.  OF COURSE  I want to be "comfortable" at all times and I'm comfortable shuffling at the lowest effort possible.  WHO DOESN'T feel that way???

 That training plan's prompt is what my mentality is instinctively - to do the least I have to do.  I don't need to be told to do that, because that's where I'm starting from and I have to do better.  That is

MY GOAL

The original goal for this Half Marathon is to "shave off time" - at least 15 minutes - from my last Half's recorded time.  So being comfortable, trying to not to challenge my lungs, and always knowing I could do better but not doing it, is going to give me the same results I had before.  Only a fool does the same thing over and over expecting a different result!  I can't afford that - even 15 weeks out.

For some reason....and I know what it is... this is more a mental block with me than a physical one.  I KNOW I can do better, because I have done better.  I have had golden miles where my time blew my mind when I saw it on my app!  So it is possible!

What everyone needs to know and never forget is - 

IF YOU HAVE DONE IT ONCE you CAN DO IT AGAIN!  

If for some reason your mind is telling you "YOU CAN'T" and giving you a long list of possible reasons why you can't - then you MUST tell yourself YOU CAN and list all the possible reasons why you can and will! Even if it means you say it to yourself while everything in your body is indicating the opposite.   You have to tear down the wall in your mind first before you can tear down the wall limiting you physically.

It's important on a running journey to know that training isn't just physical, it's mental as well!  In fact so many people start running and quit not because they aren't physically capable but because they aren't capable mentally. (This is really true of anything in life.)

So a training plan MUST incorporate a training plan mentally as well. 

 And some seasons of running is more challenging mentally than others.

Sometimes, an injury causes you to be intimidated to push in that area of your body because you fear being re-injured.   Mental blocks can also come from outside stresses that cloud your focus and you can't seem to concentrate.  Other times, it's only because you have allowed negative thoughts about your physical ability to slowly degrade your physical confidence with a lot of doubt.

I believe I'm having a challenge this time around because I have had so many changes physically and challenges with it that I have allowed it to intimidate me.  Like it or not my body has gotten older. (I said "older' not decrepit!)  In my first Half Marathon I was pare-menopausal and now I am almost post-menopausal!  That's right - I said it!   It's not something to be embarrassed or ashamed!

It's a season of LIFE,

not a DEATH sentence!

Life doesn't stop with menopause and neither should your running or running goals.  HOWEVER, it does require such different ways of keeping your body strong and healthy,  Sometimes I can hardly keep up with it!

Week to week I have to change my normal regimens that used to work so wonderfully but now my body doesn't respond well and needs something different.  There are so many areas from exercise, eating, supplements, sleep routines and even my skin care!   It's like I got a whole new physiology and I'm having to get acquainted with it.   That is the wondrous world of menopause that NO ONE ever talks about - but I'm letting the cat out of the bag!

So I'm having to rebuild confidence and not be afraid to push myself.  My body isn't broke it's just...

 DIFFERENT!

Don't be discouraged at the challenges you might face in your running journey, because that's exactly what it is -

A JOURNEY!

There are always tools to help you.  If the challenge is mentally- use affirmations that you speak to yourself until your mind is renewed to it.  Fill your mind with coaching motivations on your iPod.  Set smaller challenges that you can excel in like short fast sprints, or do just one mile at an awesome time instead of pushing and failing at a 5k.  Then celebrate yourself when you do well at these smaller goals.  The little victories help you face the 5k or the 6 miles because your mind will be like wind in your sails!  

So before you take on new or different physical challenges and goals in your running, overcome the mental challenges.

YOUR BODY CAN NEVER TAKE YOU 

WHERE YOUR MIND HASN'T GONE TO FIRST!

So whatever you do - 

SHOW UP

GET OUT THERE

RUN!

Five years running....

I am six days short of my 48th birthday which makes it 5 years of this running journey!

I am hitting this short milestone with fresh training for my second Half Marathon.   My inventory of all the races tally one Sprint Tri, one Half, two 5k's, one 5 mile, two 15k's, 2 color runs, 1 mud-run and a partridge in a...

Our first Half - I say "our" because the majority of these races have been a running-buddy effort - was  the second race of this running adventure.  It was a major challenge since it was the first timed race that "mattered."  I remember that we were just glad we finished before the truck picked up the strays.  So with our second 15k recently beating or first 15k time by 15 minutes I decided we should do the same on our Half!  Bright idea, huh?!  Who cares that we are three years older than we were before.  That really doesn't factor in.  I'll explain those details in a blog coming up!

I won't even let the cat out of the bag and tell you that I am seriously considering a Full Marathon for my 50th birthday.  It's crazy I know but it's more than just a fleeting thought, but I am not officially announcing it yet, so don't tell anyone.

I am more than excited that our Half is...

I have been obsessed with this Race company through Facebook for years, but they have never had one within driving distance until now! So we are registered and in training as I type!

Getting back into train mode was what I needed.  As always, when I don't have a registered race in front of me I tend to wane in my consistency.  And -as always, I start training with a concern I can't handle the challenge.  I feel weak and scattered and I was in that zone until Friday when I was able to break the ceiling and do six miles instead of five on my training schedule.  It was what I needed to convince myself I haven't lost my strength or ability.

 In fact, I have been so struggling mentally over being strong enough that when preparing for the 15k this last time I had to pull out some motivational coaching on I-Tunes to re-wire my thoughts!   It's like I needed runner's therapy!

Not this kind.

But this kind.

I had to revamp my playlist with music that doesn't weigh me down. Even this time I have added about six motivational coaching sessions.  They were really hard to find because no one wants a motivational that is like a meditation while you are running.  I need something that inspires me with energy and really there are only two that have that feel. 

So the field is WIDE OPEN for someone to get on that and make the bucks while helping us older ladies with big aspirations athletically. 

I'll post some more on this race preparation and it's challenges.  I have knee issues. I have weight issues.  I have digestive issues and  I'm not even mentioning all the hormonal things happening.  This is a blog about "over-forty  running" and these things are issues at over forty!  

So stay-tuned for the more over-forty running blogging.  I'll keep it real and show you how it's done.

And it doest look like this.

But like this.

and this

and maybe this

definitely that!