The Gusher Marathon

I can't believe how quickly this week is flying!... the race was on Saturday and it's now Tuesday, but between travelling, recovery, day to day life and not feeling well, somehow time has got away with me.

I set off on Friday afternoon, packed up with all my essentials (several clothing options, sport beans, forgoodness shakes, puppies and Paul) and headed to Beaumont. 

It couldn't have been a worse evening to travel, the rain was pouring like crazy. Once we got to Beaumont we had to go to the supermarket to pick up some things I needed for dinner and breakfast, and we also needed to go to packet pickup in the city centre for my race number and timing chip. 

I have never got so wet running in and out of buildings and I was starting to get nervous about the forecast for Saturday morning.  I had been checking weather underground all week and storms had been forecast until the last minute.

Somehow, despite this forecast, a little miracle happened and Saturday was clear all day 

As expected I got a rubbish night sleep on Friday as I was full of nerves, excitement and anticipation. I got up at 5 to get some breakfast and we got there just in enough time for a photo of me looking nervous and to get to the start.

The first loop was great as there were plenty of people to run and pace with and lots of supporters along the route. I finished the first half in 2.03.31 then started on the loneliest 13.1 miles of my running life so far! 

Initially I was feeling strong after the first half as I headed out onto the MLK freeway. It's such a long stretch and the wind was picking up which started making life a little more difficult. When I got into the town centre it was so much quieter than the first loop. Many of the supporters had called it a day as it wasn't worth hanging around for the more occasional marathon runners. Local businesses were closed because the roads were closed so it was dead as a dodo! I had a few guys behind me and a couple up ahead but there were definitely not crowds of runners encouraging you to push along. That's where the mind games began. The urge to walk was overwhelming sometimes and the pain in my quads started to wear me down.

Running back up the long stretch of MLK (somehow into the wind again!) was the hardest part for me. I had never run over 20 miles so this stretch was pushing me physically and mentally. On the positive side, running down the middle of 6 lanes of motorway all to yourself is pretty awesome!

The run up to this marathon had been far from perfect. I had been sick for the 2 weeks prior to the race, worst of all that I was so ill I didn't eat a thing on Monday or Tuesday. I spent the rest of the week trying to get some food in me and make an attempt at carb loading. I was still struggling with pain on the day of the race and had to make a couple of stops but I was determined not to give in... I had trained for too long to not finish the race!
Somehow I surprised myself and finished in a gun time of 4.26.09 and chip time of 4.25.40. I was 4th in my age group which I'm so pleased with considering it was my first marathon... then I realised if I had been just a couple of months older I would have been 1st in my age group... FIRST!!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT??!!

I'm so pleased to have run a full 26.2 miles and feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment. I trained hard for this and know that it paid off. My legs hate me right now... I couldn't get up the steps to the house which was just silly... followed by cuddling the dog on the floor and getting stuck down there, which was even sillier!

However today I'm starting to move a little better and I don't regret it for a moment... it was totally worth the aches and pains!

Between you and me I'm already planning my next one....

PMA TO THE RESCUE!

So after realising where I was going wrong the other day, I attempted a bit of a mental reset and so far it's worked. Yesterday's run was an example of this and I realised a few really important things...

• Marathon training is not supposed to be easy
• I'm not the only one that has ever felt overwhelmed by marathon training... it's supposed to push you
• I need to stop giving myself such a hard time, and just do my best
• IF IT WAS EASY... EVERYONE WOULD DO IT

Yesterday I ran without my Garmin or ipod (the ipod wasn't intentional but it was dead as a dodo) and it did me the world of good. I didn't need GPS as I knew exactly where I was going to run and run it so often I know how far it is. I hadn't realised how much I look at my watch for distance and pace and I really enjoyed this run without that subconscious pressure. It was mild outside but not too hot, I could run comfortably in a singlet and shorts and the only thing I could've done with was a drink half way around!
Here comes the bit that made the difference though... Instead of analysing how far I had left to run (and torturing myself with it) I thought about how I should go about raising some money for the YAMND. Once I'd tackled that (which took about 9km by the time I'd thought about it then repeated everything enough times to commit it to memory), I occupied the rest of my run (7km) with thoughts about positive things. These things are varied in their subject matter but I would only think about something if I was thinking about it in a positive way. I set myself some rules where 'can't' and 'won't' and similar negative words were banned from my thoughts. If they crept in I'd have to find a way of expressing what I was thinking in a positive way (all the time this is keeping my mind busy and I'm not thinking about how far I've run and how far I have left to go!!)

If I ran out of things to think about I would repeat positive phrases, almost like a song, through my mind again and again. Running up hills involved 'I can do this' 'I am strong' and 'hills are awesome!'. (Rubbish song, I know, but it got me up them and I didn't stop at any point though the full 16km!). I noticed that in order for this to work I had to approach it as 'I can do this' rather than 'you can do this' as that would make me feel like I was telling someone else.
Somehow these things got me through the full distance comfortably with no desire to quit and no physical pain. Although this all involves admitting that I talk to myself (though I don't think it was out loud except maybe when I was going uphill), it does prove that my problems recently have been in my head and not with my physical ability!

'Our greatest battles are 

with our own minds'

                               Jameson Frank

Battling my Brain

Running hasn't always been easy for me. I only started a couple of years ago and the initial difficulties were in the physical pain, from injured knees to general fitness issues that manifested in aching limbs and fiery lungs. However I persevered and grew stronger physically and since then my regular training runs have been (fairly) easy... until now.

For a long time running was the thing that helped me deal with challenges and gave me time to think. But right now everything is going my way in life and I'm happy....
....and for some reason this seems to be making my running more difficult. I have nothing to fight though, nothing is making me so angry that I need to sprint through it and conquer my mind with burning lungs and heavy legs. On long runs I used to plan things and think through conversations and strategies. I'd think about friendships that were in turmoil and go through my options of saving them or letting them go. Basically the reason I started running was that I had a lot to think about.

I'm thankful that my life has settled down a lot since then, but it left my head with a lot less to contemplate. During that time the 2011 challenge became part of my mentality, something to strive towards and focus on. As a result my weekly running target was always a set total but I could regularly do more, and that in itself was a positive influence on my life.
This year however I'm in marathon training and I've never done anything like it. The requirements of the plan I chose are steep to say the least and, although I don't think I chose a particularly difficult plan, the km/week requirement makes my 2011 challenge seem like a walk in the park! Not being able to keep up with the plan in itself is having a negative affect on my mindset.
Then there's the 'Long Slow Run'..... Oh my word!!!

The long slow run has increased through the course of my training, however as it turns out, it's not the distance that's doing me in right now. I started off my LSRs in the company of the Sweatshop running club on a Sunday morning by running to them, with them, and then back home to make up the distance I needed. Then I started running with Lou who is a great running partner! She runs long distance, naturally on a negative split (which is awesome), and is great company all the way. But now, here I am in hilly Texas which feels like a million miles away from Lou and our random adventures along the flat city streets, muddy riverside trails and the York-Selby cycle path.

The long run is becoming a nemesis that has started to get the better me. Without the company of fellow runners it is becoming increasingly difficult, especially as (in order to stay safe) my route is either 2 or 3 loops of the same road, and the same big hills again and again. I seem to be talking myself out of everything and losing confidence, often within the first few miles and it's as if the foundations I've built aren't even there right now.
However part of me understands that these runs are supposed to challenge me, and no-one ever said this was going to be easy! On the day I'm hoping that the race environment will keep me going and that I'll be distracted by other runners and spectators, but I need to be ready to run the distance alone. These training runs are designed to prepare me. They will challenge me to be strong both physically and mentally, and to be able to do the distance without encouragement from spectators, friends or family.
The challenge now is both to be strong, and to grow stronger...

January Training Update

I've found it really difficult to get back into a good training pattern so far this year though this might have had something to do with all that comes with Christmas and new year then travelling from England to Texas (and all the preparation that takes). Plus Paul and I were doing as much as possible visiting places in England before he left so that we made the most of his trip.
It always takes me a couple of weeks to get back into things here... mainly because I dread running up that huge hill! I'm also finding the temperatures really odd here... I expected it to be nice and cool as it's January, however Texas is having a very mild winter and it was 26c on my run yesterday!

I still find it hard to suppress that feeling when I'm running that I should be running further... something instilled in me from the 2011 challenge where every km counted! Between that and the crazy distances required for my marathon training I feel like I'm never quite doing enough.
However when looking at my stats, despite quite a few days off here and there for festivities and travelling, I've still had a great month! Just because I'm not doing my 2011 challenge doesn't mean I can't be a geek about my stats:

January Total: 179km (111 miles)

Longest run: 32.6km (20.3 miles)

Fastest run: 10.5km @ 5.25/km (8.43/mile)

It's the Galveston Half on Sunday, then I plan to get straight back into my marathon training and hope to stick to it as closely as possible through February!

Mental & Physical Toughness Test...

This week I had one of the toughest runs I've ever been on.... my first 20 miler... with hills! 

I love being back in Texas, the weather is fantastic (running in shorts and t-shirt in January is awesome!) plus it's great to be running in the countryside again. The only problem is that I may have lost my touch with the hills as it's been a few months since I was running on them regularly... and the hills here are rough! 

There is no direction I can set off from the house that doesn't include at least one monster hill if not several, so I think you can imagine how I felt running 20 miles of them!

My quads were already achy from the run I'd done a couple of days earlier as I'm just not in hill shape. Add 20 miles on to that ache and I was hurting, big time! Thankfully I got to running near the lake where the views are a beautiful and the hills are a little less severe.

 It was a massive milestone for me and I needed to tackle that as the marathon is approaching fast.

So next time I'm running in York and grumbling for any reason... just remind me to be thankful that I'm not tackling this....