Monthly Archives: July 2013
Check-ups
In the final two days of this month I stopped comparing myself to myself. (Cue DMB’s “Rhyme & Reason” and the “My head won’t leave my head alone” lyrics.)
You see, along this journey of intentional cutting back, I started to feel bad because I wasn’t having my normal summer of 100-mile months. Running less was part of the summer plan a long time ago, but I never expected it to feel like it has.
At the beginning of the month I set some simple goals. Turns out, they weren’t so simple. I didn’t lose weight (in fact I gained a pound) and I came no where close to running 80 miles (56.8 is my lowest in the summer since 2003 when I ran 0). I did, however, beat my 30-mile goal for my bike, getting in 32.7 miles.
The way I’ve closed the month out – all but 4.6 of those biking miles were in the second half of July – has me feeling good about August. And when it comes to my love of running, I actually feel excited about getting back to higher mileage. Hitting a low in the summer is what I needed. It was just a hell of a process that I’m still getting over.
Those 13 goals …
This is sort of a June and July check-up since I didn’t touch the subject a month ago.
1. 5k PR – official or unofficial
I’m slow right now. Sure my 5K on July 4 wasn’t bad, but I’m slow for my standards. This simply isn’t realistic anytime soon.
2. Run at least 2 races I’ve never done before
Done, sort of.
3. Run a 5k – official or unofficial – with my friend Brandon
We’ve discussed it. Getting there.
4. 50 consecutive push-ups
Through various things falling apart, I’m still getting occasional push-up workouts in. Nowhere close to 50 year.
5. Ride at least 200 miles
See above on some progress for July. I’m at 104 for the year. Time to catch up in August.
6. Weigh in at less than 180
Call me Caption of Bad News this month.
7. Do a plank at least once a week
Or not. Even if it’s a sorry 30 second plank, this is still happening.
8. Run a race without a watch
Done!
9. Run with my sister Heather
Done!
10. Do an exercise at least once per month that I haven’t done the rest of the year
Let’s count jumping jacks in June; in July I carried my dumbbells from my side porch up my steps. That counts for me in this crazy month.
11. Eat at least one salad per week
Doing well with this.
12. Limit myself to one soft drink a month
I had a set-back in June with an extra day on my birthday. Exception, right? July I had a Coke at my in-laws. No cravings since.
13. Run ON the beach
It’s coming …
Accepting my failures
In the past few years, July has typically been one of my best months, both in terms of how I feel about where things are heading and with total running mileage. This month, though, reminds me more of how I often feel in April or May when I’m taking some down time or figuring out what’s next.
This July has consisted of 3 stages: the first few days were awesome, complete with a decent 5k; then I had a week where I felt like my running world was falling apart; in the past week I’ve hit this acceptance stage of knowing I’m not going to hit my goals I set for myself this month and am finally looking forward to what’s ahead.
Being honest and accepting that I thought I was ready for July to be different June is leading to a nice closing. When I add up the numbers in a few days, I’ll be WAY short of my running mileage goal and I doubt I’ll hit my weight goal; I am, however, focused on hitting my mileage goal for the bike.
I feel determined to have at least a 33.3% success rate before I set August goals.
As for those 13 goals for the year, I’m still focused on those too, but I wish I wouldn’t have locked myself into some of them. I’m not going to let myself worry about what may or may not happen with those right now … I just want to get them done.
My self-pity party has been an experience like no other — and I think I’ve had one too many posts about it — but I’m glad it’s over.
Rolling Stone justification? It doesn’t exist
In the past couple of days I have tried to remain opinion-less of the Rolling Stone cover with one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, but I just can’t. Especially after some people are trying to defend it directly to me.
Let me give you some perspective on why I am outraged at this cover. In 2007 I was working at the daily newspaper in Lynchburg, Va., when the Virginia Tech massacre occurred. Being less than 2 hours away from Blacksburg, this was a local story for us; for so many others this was one of those things they just couldn’t believe, shook their heads about it and then went on with their daily lives as normal.
For me, there was no escaping it; there’s still no escaping it.
I lived and breathed updates on that story every hour for several straight days. We had two reporters on the scene, one of whom was a VT graduate. On another level, I was in constant contact with friends who are alumni – I’d say that I know at least 20 people who are alumni. I’ve been to concerts there; I’ve been to a few basketball games there; I’ve been to a handful of Hokie football games.
I don’t remember the full timeline, but toward the end of that week NBC broadcast the video they received of the shooter; then the AP released many photos of this guy.
At the paper I remember wrestling with this decision of what do we show on the front page of the paper. His eyes? The guns? Nothing?
If I could go back in time I would shout to leave this guy off the front page … let’s belittle him and not even show the thumbnail photo of him anymore.
Showing his photos and airing this creep’s videos is what he wanted. It’s also want others with his same mind-frame want to see. They know if they do it, the media will show it.
We’ll never know if the Boston bombers really wanted to be glorified with photos of them in the media, but we do know that others out there admire them. If they go out and bomb a public event, could they get on a cover of a magazine too?
To add fuel to the fire, Rolling Stone is publishing this 3 months after the bombings. No editor can justify that to me. No one outside of the media business can justify that to me.
Some may argue that we’re too sensitive now; that we need to see this stuff.
After we catch people who do this, what is the point of posting photos more than a few times? Why do they deserve a photo in a newspaper larger than 7 picas wide?
They don’t. Again, no one can truly justify this type of glorification.
I’ll get off my rant now and continue to run and focus on the greater good this world has to offer. …
Smarter, stronger, faster: the sequel
Nearly 3 years ago when faced a major injury, I vowed to come back smarter, stronger and faster. I did just that throughout 2011 and early 2012. Those words weren’t just things I typed – I repeated them to myself on runs, and I lived those words through my training.
I took breaks when something ached; I added cross training to my workouts; I broke PRs in every distance.
While I haven’t been physically injured, I found myself thinking about those 3 words in my run yesterday morning. I need to get smarter; I have to get stronger; and I want to get faster.
Having been mantra-less for more than a year, it’s time to get back to what was working before.
If it ain’t broke
When I decided last year not to run a fall marathon this year, the decision was easy. It was also refreshing. I’m realizing, though, I was trying to fix something that wasn’t really broken.
Now that I’m in the middle of summer and my long runs are generally capped at an hour, I’m readily admitting that I miss those long Saturday morning runs beyond 10 miles. Or, rather, I miss the idea of them.
That alone is what gets me excited about wanting to do another marathon again in 2014.
All’s not lost
With a baby on the way, doing a marathon in October or November would have been nearly impossible anyway. Sure all of the harder training would have been done, but the final month would have been full of sleep-deprived nights.
That’s why running the Richmond Half in November is much more appealing. Sure I’ll be tired, but if I can get back to my smarter-stronger-faster mindset over these next two months, I’ll be ready to end this year with a strong performance in a race.
Right now I don’t care about the PR or a certain time in that race – I just want to be in a better place physically and mentally because of it. Getting through a couple of months with a new baby will only add to that and get me set up well for realistic goals in 2014.
Speaking of goals
I’m probably going to fall short of my mileage goals I set for July, but I certainly don’t regret them. I think my own failures with those goals will likely mean I’ll set more goals at the beginning of August and beyond. My overall goals for the year were nice and I’ll still work on them, but I’m learning a lot about myself this summer and what works and doesn’t.
Setting short-term goals will be the path to a return to happiness with my running … and will be key to make my 10th year of running in 2014 the best ever.
Climbing out of the Blah Barrel
Last week’s good race was followed by a nice 6-mile flat run in Ohio, which was followed by several days of not feeling like doing much.
So much for feeling motivated, right?
After feeling like I had hit a low, I hit a new low around Friday morning when I opted for sleep once again instead of a run. Hitting the bottom of the Blah Barrel is starting to feel like a good thing, though.
In the past few days, I’ve run on a Friday evening (that’s really out of character), painted my baby’s room (first time painting in at least 4 years) and rode my bike in the middle of a hot summer afternoon (not completely rare, but rare enough since I had 0 July miles on my bike).
All of a sudden I feel like I’ve hatched; I feel ready for something new this week.
Or maybe renewed is the better word.
I have to actually do it though. I need more out-of-character moments; I need simple moments; I need a pre-7 a.m. run; I need to run at an odd time; I need to ride my bike more; I need to lift weights again.
What was routine for me went out the window a long time ago and I need to spend the rest of this month just doing something other than making excuses.
I don’t know if I’ll come close to my initial July goals, but I’m tired of the never-ending cycle I’ve put myself through these past few months …
Stars, stripes and motivation
After a rough couple of months and probably one of the biggest running funks I’ve ever been in, I returned today to the site of where I set a 5k PR a couple of years ago — the Stars and Stripes 5k in Howland, Ohio.
I didn’t think too much about setting a goal for this race other than using it as a test to see what kind of shape I’m in.
I’m a long way off from the type of 5k racing shape I’d like to be in, but I’m also not starting from scratch. I just needed some kind of bar to set headed into the second half of the year.
I figured that setting a goal of 24 minutes would be realistic. It’s kind of disappointing that I’m not going for sub 22 at this point in the year, but I’m not battling reality anymore.
The race started off well. I fell into a comfortable group and thought I’d keep that pace for a while, only to look at my watch at the first turn and realize I didn’t start it.
I took it off, put it in my pocket. Time to really fulfill that 2013 goal of mine by not wearing a watch in a race.
When I hit the first mile and the guy was calling out mile times, I was feeling pretty good. I was right at 7:45.
In the next mile I found myself pacing just behind a guy in a blue shirt. He kept looking back a bit, but I was very much running his race, not mine. And I knew that I was probably pushing myself more than I would have had I had my watch.
At mile 2, I was at 15:20. One thing was going through my head at this point — don’t fade away. Dropping off in the second half of races or the final few miles has been my biggest downfall in the past year. I wasn’t going to walk away from this race letting myself down again.
When I rounded the corner for the final tenth of a mile or so, I passed a guy who had passed me a quarter mile earlier, then two other guys dusted me as they were fighting neck and neck. I saw that clock and kept my focus on sub 24.
I saw 23:49 when I crossed the finish clock, so give or take a few seconds, I hit my goal.
I have some mix feelings about it — on one hand I’m ecstatic that coming out of a low point with running I can run a 7:40 pace 5k with a strong finish; on the other hand being 90 seconds slower than 2 years ago is disappointing.
It’s my own undoing with the shape I’m in right now, but it’s also motivation to turn things around in the next couple of months. I can feel myself breaking out of this both physically and mentally, and now I have to get to work making things happen.
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