Posts in Category: Post Race
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 …
Epic? I’m going there
Thanks to my friend Mike for capturing this as I was warming up.
The Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon weekend can be summed up in one word: epic.
I hope you know that “epic” has never been used to describe any event from me. I did use it in a post a couple of weeks ago when I hinted at what I was going to do at the Monument Avenue 10k, but I didn’t bust it out. I even looked up the definition to make sure something there fit well. “Impressively great” works for me.
I use it with caution, but I’m using it nonetheless because it just was. I’m not even going to disclose everything here either — it’s just one of those things for the memory bank and great stories to tell others in person.
In addition to my first post on Sunday, here are some other weekend highlights and thoughts.
- The elevation change:
- My actual race performance was disappointing. I was exactly a minute slower than last year. In 2012, I put too much effort going up Mill Mountain; this year was too conservative. Despite a couple of fast miles coming down Mill Mountain (7:20 for mile 5, 7:40 for mile 6), I couldn’t make up the time I lost going up the mountain (mile 2 was a little more than 10 miles, mile 3 was in 12:10). I did manage to have a negative split, just not negative enough to feel fully satisfied. Running 13.1 miles in the week leading up to the race didn’t help, but I have no regrets. I know I can get closer to 1:50 in this race … eventually.
- WDBJ7 interviewed me about #RunChat.
- In addition to hanging out with great people I mentioned in my last post, I hung out with these awesome people:
My former co-worker Josh, who I ran with quite a bit in Roanoke in 2011-12. He loves my ProCompression socks.
Paul (@Lavi1313 on Twitter) and I after he completed the marathon. I also got to meet his awesome mother at the pasta dinner.
Second time running into @krissymurphy at this race, and 3rd race overall.
- That makes for two years in a row of some awesome socializing at this race, plus I had the opportunity to make this a working weekend helping both Foot Levelers and the Blue Ridge Marathon with some social media posts.
- I feel like WDBJ7′s photo of me with Bart Yasso and Amy really sums up my weekend. All smiles. A celebration of running. Doing it all for Boston. Uniting as a community.
WDBJ7 photo (click on photo for full gallery)
As for what’s next, I really don’t know. All my plans and thoughts have been thrown out the window.
For now, I’m just enjoying running to run. …
Preparing for “different”
Late winter/early spring half marathon. Marathon training. Fall marathon.
Repeat.
With the exception of early 2011, I’ve been in a pattern that I’m ready to break.
I haven’t talked much about it because I wasn’t sure I was sure, but I’m starting to feel really good about my decision to not run a marathon this calendar year.
Duke and I on a trail by the James River on Saturday. More trail runs are definitely in store for us this year.
I don’t have that itch anymore. It’s gone.
I thought running the Shamrock Half Marathon might strike up some desire to do 26.2 again later this spring or early fall.
But nope. It’s just not there.
I’m pretty excited about the next few weeks of running — the Monument Avenue 10k is going to be a pure fun event with my sister. I can’t even begin to hint at what is going to happen that day because it may cause me to break out the word “epic.”
A week after that I’ll be tackling Mill Mountain in the Blue Ridge Half Marathon. Many of my runs in the next two weeks will be focused on hills.
Hills, hills and more hills. Except for the complete flatness in Ohio this weekend.
It may be some of that “too little too late” type of training — similar to the speedwork I did for Shamrock — but I’m excited about this challenging event. I’m approaching it with more focus than a year ago, but not enough that I’m taking it too seriously.
After that I have a nice huge gap on my race calendar. Nothing is even on my radar from mid-April to mid-November. That will change, but I like not having this self pressure to turn my focus on “what’s next” with training.
This past weekend I realized how much I’ll enjoy doing some different things this spring and summer. I did a short trail run on Saturday with Duke and a 40-minute bike ride on Sunday. It was such a nice change from a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call to go run for 90-120 minutes.
A year from now I could very well be focused on a marathon again, but I’m not peeking into my crystal ball to worry about that. For now I’m happy with what’s ahead and it’s been a while since I have felt that way.
No changing my training
I’ve never come away from Shamrock weekend with so few thoughts. Usually the day after I’m ready to sign up for the next year (which I will sometime this week) and browsing hotel costs thinking I’ll find a deal (although now I’m pretty set on staying at La Quinta next year).
This year I’m just kind of mad at myself for not being in prime shape for my favorite race. While I ran a time that I fully expected, I can’t help but know that I could have been more mentally and physically ready this year.
That said, I woudn’t go back and trade my down time for more runs; I wouldn’t go back and do more tempo mileage; I wouldn’t change anything from my long runs.
If you think I’m beating myself up, I’m not. I know I can’t have it both ways, so that’s why I’m using Sunday’s race as a measuring point.
I still ran sub 1:50 for a half marathon. I ran a good race, just not my best for this course. And just like I said in my post about the rain the other day, so what?
There’s nothing I can do about that now, so I’m moving forward and will talk about the Blue Ridge Half Marathon soon.
My final thoughts from Shamrock aren’t going to come from me, but instead from a photo of my son.
His joy of running a short kids race reminds me of the finer things in life. All my PRs and goals and personal experiences aren’t nearly as important as seeing this kind of happiness.
Doing Disney again … one day
I could go on and on and on about how great of a weekend Disney was and how much I enjoyed the Walt Disney World Marathon, but sometimes those memories are better just kept to myself and my family. (To address a point I brought up last week, yes my son had fun on the rides even taking on Space Mountain after just barely meeting the height requirements.)
It was a special weekend that I would have liked to have extended by another day, and I’d love to make going back — both for a vacation and for running — a reality. How that all happens isn’t something I’m going to lay out here. (The Disney Marathon will be 25 in 5 years, the year that I’ll turn 40 …)
After such a quiet end to 2012 and then kicking off 2013 in this awesome way, I’ve got to figure out what I want to do next with running. Lots of questions with no answers, but I’m very much at peace with that for at least a few more days.
For now, I’m still obsessed about this awesome medal. Here it is at work with me on Tuesday …
Farewell 26.2 (sort of)
I can’t quite pinpoint the moment it happened, but somewhere between the Runner’s World Half Marathon and the Richmond Marathon, I became so intent on cutting back on running that the whole aspect of having fun went away.
In the past 3 weeks, I’ve run less, I’ve refrained from blogging much, I haven’t read many blogs and besides leading #RunChat over the weekend, I haven’t had much to say on Twitter.
And it’s been refreshing.
Not having to focus on a big goal for a few weeks has helped me reset my mind and has allowed me to enjoy my runs more. Aside from the knee pain I mentioned, I am feeling much more calm about running these days.
I’ll post more soon about my opportunity to run Disney, but I’m already approaching that with a “just have fun” approach. I’m not going to pile on a lot of miles to get to that race day.
I’m instead focusing on more cross training and strength training, as well as getting off a few post-marathon and Thanksgiving pounds. I don’t want, or need, a goal for that race.
In these past few weeks I’ve thought a lot about 2013 and really not setting goals. These past couple of years have had some great moments, but I think I’m ready to just step back and bit and not have “A” goals that eat up so much of my focus on every run.
This doesn’t mean I won’t train for races – of course I will – but I’m done consuming months of my time for the shot at an “A” goal in a fall marathon.
This is kind of my long-winded way of saying that no matter what happens in January at Disney, I’m done with “26.2″ for a while. It was my intent all along. But that was supposed to be after a strong Richmond Marathon and running 3:40 something and having a celebratory good-bye to the distance.
What happened that day doesn’t matter anymore, and I think I’m better because of that. I’m really looking forward to closing out an otherwise great year by just having fun.
Recent Comments