Rest today, Run tomorrow

This week was capital C Crazy. With Thursday's fundraising event forcing me to rearrange my schedule to three days in a row of running, plus work, plus the realization that I may have to find a new apartment or face a rent increase (hey I'm cheap I don't like giving away my hard earned pennies) I was a little worn out by wednesday. But I had a 3.5 mile run planned and it was going to be Boyfriend's longest run, so even though it was cloudy and cold I was going to suck it up and run. Until I got home and realized my sneakers were at work in my gym locker. And I have a superstition about running in old sneakers once I've had new ones for a few months. It was cold, and I was hungry, and Boyfriend and I decided to bag the run for the day and make dinner.

In the past this would have left me ridden with guilt. Erasing planned mileage off my schedule always made me cringe and think I was failing. Not strong enough or dedicated enough. Maybe I was just too busy or tired to feel bad this time but it didn't bother me in the least. Thursday, the day I would normally run I didn't even think about exercise. To combat the possibility of feeling like a fatty I ate really well all day long. Chocolate milk, coffee, and peanut butter toast for breakfast, salmon, cauliflower, and pasta for lunch, and the usual yogurt, apple, banana, and carrots for snacks. Did I mention I was wearing high heels for the first time in two months and my calves were not painfully tight by the end of the day?

The fundraising event with Lilly Pulitzer and Beth Dunn was better than I could have asked for. It was probably the most fun I have had raising money for Team Challenge. I even made a few purchases to add to my Lilly collection.

Today I feel great. Rested and ready for my long run tomorrow, no pain or discomfort AT ALL what-so-ever *knock on wood*. The thing I am coming to realize in life is that as long as you do the right thing 95% of the time you shouldn't be so hard on yourself if you have to change things around, skip a workout, or want to eat a cookie. The important thing is to always be happy, make time for everything. If I was strict on my running schedule I would have missed out on a fabulous event. Or worse I would have been that awful person who makes scheduling an event impossible due to unavailability.

I think one of the worst feelings going into a long run is not being rested. Feeling like I have to go to sleep at 8pm in order to even function for a 8am run. So far the summer is off to a great start. Or the spring is coming to a good end. Either way I am looking forward to 11 miles tomorrow. Who knows what I'm going to learn from Coach Jack this time.

As always if you want to donate to a great cause - visit my fundraising page HERE!!!

xx Sara

How the other half lives

I find it ironic that not even a few ours after writing about being a running minimalist that I am standing on the treadmill, headphones plugged into my ears, and Us weekly resting on the display in front of me. Wait, isn't this the same girl that is constantly saying "If you can read a magazine or book you aren't working hard enough?" Well before you get angry and call me a hypocrite let me start at the beginning.

I never planned on spending y evening on the treadmill, but mother nature must have been sick of being nice of me because she rolled in the rain clouds just as I was finishing up at the office. Thankfully I had brought my gym clothes to the office so I could change before my run. I grabbed my ipod, inhaler, and phone and headed down to the office gym. I usually start my gym workout with some kind of warm up/ weights/abs, all the stuff I know I should do more but don't have the energy to do after. This is where the headphones come in. They are excellent for getting in a rhythm and banging out a bunch of crunches and lunges.

Since I had run yesterday, and was running again tomorrow, today's run was supposed to be easy. Correction, had to be easy. No room for over use injuries in my plan. As I was crossing the room for the treadmill the cover of US weekly caught my eye. If there is anything I am addicted to more than chocolate, it is celebrity gossip. I know it is terrible but I can't help it. I can get away with not actually buying any tabloids because my wonderful co-workers bring their mags (like this one) into the gym for my reading pleasure, usually while stretching post workout. This particular cover focused on the female leads of The Hills and how LA has "ruined" them. How could I pass this up - must read NOW!

And then I wondered, what is it like to read while running? I admit I have never actually tried to read on the treadmill, I just assumed you had to be running so slow you could not be working very hard, or you were not concentrating enough on your workout. I thought if people would just put down the magazines and do a shorter more intense workout it would be so much more effective. But today I needed something to slow me down so I set the treadmill at 4.5, 1% incline and started to run. And read. And boy was it hard! I had to keep glancing away from the pages or risk getting dizzy as I tried to follow bits and pieces of each story. There was a lot of page turning, and picture looking at-ing. I tried using my fingers to guide me along each line as if I was learning to read for the first time, I kept loosing my place and reading words out of order. Although I did manage to read about 95% of the article I wanted, and it did distract me during two and half miles I can honestly say I will not be trying that again. I stick by my original theory that if you are reading you are not working out hard enough. Even at an easy pace it was extremely difficult to not get dizzy and fall off.

As for the my theory on headphones, I find them perfectly acceptable for treadmill running. Anyone who has the patience to run 4 miles at a slow pace on a treadmill in an empty gym, in complete silence, in front of a mirror so the only thing to look at is yourself, running, is amazing. I am not that person. I still need a little Whitney Houston to help me keep my sanity.

xx Sara

Running in zen

When I read this Runner's World article on mediation when running, I realized just what a running purist I tend to be. There are a lot of 'trendy' running things I don't like to take with me, and headphones/ipod are pretty high up on the list. Of course we all have our moments of weakness, when a run with music to keep us going is better than no run at all. But most of the time I only want to hear my feet on the pavement, and the breath in my lungs. I don't like getting bogged down by STUFF and belts around my waist, bottles in my hand, bands around my arms, and stress in my mind make me feel heavy. When I run I want to feel light, and fast.

Take for example yesterday. Working in the fashion industry the days are a swirling blur of fittings, meetings, looking at patterns, writing comments and everyone wants everything five minutes ago. (Awesome post about what I do all day can be found HERE) Sometimes I can literally feel my head spinning as I compile a mental to do list, always adding more than I am crossing off.

But the moment I step away from my monitor and start making my way to the gym I can feel the stress tumbling away from me like falling rocks. Running is the only time when all you have to deal with is the distance in front of you. No phone calls can be returned, nor emails written. Dishes, bills, and the burdens of the household are left behind as you concentrate on each falling step. My breath may sometimes get short, and my legs may hurt but I am calm in the peace of mind that nothing else has to be done in this moment than keep putting one foot in front of the other.

It also helped that I was running in the amazingly peaceful and beautiful Valley Forge Park at sunset. The weather was a bit chilly but luckily I had a long sleeve tech tee. It was so strange to be running alone in the shadows on the same path that I usually share with a chatty group of runners early Saturday mornings. Climbing hills, rounding corners and gaining a little speed every now and again I took in the scenery keep a steady even pace. When I knew I was at the end I sped up a little, holding on until I was back in the parking lot. No matter how many times I run, that feeling of accomplishment and completion at the end is there every time.

Of course once I stopped I could feel some tightness in my outside thighs which I can only assume is my IT band. It only makes sense that the night ended with Yoga and stretching to easy my muscles.

xx Sara

Happy Mothers Day

One of my favorite pictures of mom and me at one of her races. I may only be about 1 year old in this picture but whenever I look at it I think of it as proof I was born to be a runner.

It's hard to say for sure, but I have a good feeling that with out my mother as an example I would not be the runner I am today. If she had it her way I would have been a runner many years earlier, but she never gave up and let me develop at my own pace. Now that I am older and we have more of a friend relationship, she is almost always the first person I go to for advice, especially for running. She always reminds me that it's important to keep a healthy balance of running and other fun things.

I admire my mother for her incredible strength and determination to not only run as much as she did, but to raise a wonderful loving family at the same time. If ever there is a moment when I doubt myself, I think of my mom and all the things she had and still continues to do. When I ran my first half marathon, and things started getting tough I thought of her, and that brought me strength to keep on going.

And even though she has been through some set backs of her own she hasn't let it stop her from getting back in the game. When I told her I was signing up for another full marathon after (what I considered to be) a disaster and a let down a year and a half ago, she too did something incredibly brave and signed up for the half marathon. Her first long race in almost eight years. Together we can share in the journey of training and preparing for a race that both scares us and excites us at the same time.

Happy Mother's Day mom. You are amazing.

xx Sara

Another lesson learned

It seems that every time I go out for another long run with Team Challenge I learn something new about racing, training, or just plain running in general. Today was no different.

When I showed up for our 10 mile run in Valley Forge Park I was disappointed to see dark rain clouds on the horizon. I would run in the rain no problem but these clouds looked mean, and full of lighting. The group was small so we all agreed to start out together and run one 5 mile loop, watch the clouds and if it stayed nice we would do a second loop. If we saw lighting it was show over. Rain jacket and baseball cap on I was ready and we headed out.

Thankfully, mother nature was on our side today and she pushed the clouds off somewhere else. It was pretty hot and humid but not a drop of rain, and the sun even poked it's head out at the very end. As usual, because the runner to mentor/coach ratio is something like 1:4 I felt like I was surrounded my my own little coaching entourage. About halfway through our second loop we begin chatting about weekly mileage and speed work and learned some interesting things about putting together a training schedule. In the past I have started from scratch before every race. I set my sights on finishing one race and nothing else. Building mileage and working on speed at the same time takes it's toll on a body though, and roughly two months before each race I felt like I was in the best shape of my life. By the time race day rolled around I felt burnt out. This would lead to taking of months after a race and starting from square one again.

It was Coach Jack's advice of building endurance at first and then adding speed work at the end that really made something click in my head. I know that I made it through two marathons so far, but how had I gotten to this point if I was doing so much wrong? Asthma, and unrealistic goals were already in the pot and now peaking too early was thrown into the equation. No wonder I quit running for a whole year. In the height of my training I was working my way up to 50 mile weeks all while doing mile and two mile repeats, tempo runs, and hills. Long runs on weekends. I thought I was being hard core, and intense. Now when I look back on it I think I was being a little bit crazy.

The more I run this year, the more I learn. It feels incredible to be able to run one race, recover, and come back strong and ready to run another in a month and a half. So what that I am not going out and giving my all for every run. At this point in my life I care more about not burning out that rushing my way to a delicious PR. There will always be another race as long as I run smart.

xx Sara

If the government trusts me, maybe you could.

I love quotes, and I love the movie Top Gun. It seems that my past few runs could be ever so appropriately titled with quotes or songs from that movie. So here we go.

Wednesday - "I feel the need, the need for speed"

My weekly Wednesday workout with Boyfriend was the first since both of our races. We haven't found another 5k in the area to sign up for, so I thought it would be fun to do some speed work and get Boyfriend used to the feel of a harder pace on real ground and not the treadmill. I picked 3 x 400 repeats w/ 400 recovery on West River Drive with 1/2 mile warm up(it is usually far less crowded). Now this whole coaching thing is new to me so I am always worried that I'm doing something wrong with out realizing it but the whole workout was an overall success. We started out nice and easy, picked up the pace for a quarter mile and then took our sweet time recovering. I was pleased, but Boyfriend was frustrated. I couldn't understand why until I realized this whole running/training process is still new and maybe even though I try to explain a lot I hadn't done a good job explaining intervals/repeats/speed work.

"It's supposed to suck" I tell him. "It's supposed to be hard and you hate it but in the end it makes you stronger, am I making sense?"

He nods his head yes although I am sure he cares more about being done than anything I have been saying.

I try to remember my first time ever doing speed work with Larry. I had no idea what I was doing. I just went out with him and ran, when he told me to run fast I ran fast. I remember I even took my Ipod with me because I didn't think I could run fast with out it. I also remember singing to myself "someday my prince will come" because it was the only thing that came to mind at the time. I know that the only reason I was proud of myself was because Larry told me I was doing well.

So no matter what I made sure to tell Boyfriend the same, which was easy because it was true. When you first start out it is easy to feel frustrated in all the unknown. The encouraging words of someone who has been there before are often the very thing you need to build confidence.

Thursday - "Take my breath away"

At the beginning of the week I was excited to get back on my feet, but by Thursday I was ready for a rest day. My legs were starting to feel tight and sore, but I reminded myself this was all part of the process and I would be fine. I decided to go out for an easy for miles, meaning I leave my watch at home and don't focus on time. Of course once I have gotten out there and ran about a mile I feel great and am coming up on my first hill of the trail. It is a tiny little bump of a hill but an upward grade non the less so I decide that every hill will be run twice as hard. Normally I hate hills, but there is no watch and no rush to be home and I feel like giving a little extra something. My whole body feels great as I pick up speed, but almost at the top I start to feel out of breath. I slow down, enough to catch my breath and keep going. But at the next hill, it happens again. And the next, and the next until I am at my last hill, and the turnaround point for the trail. I give it everything I have, my whole body feeling great, except my lungs. They are just not on board with the rest of my body and by the time I reach the top I am literally gasping for breath, unable to get a decent breath. Again, I am forced to slow down until I feel better.

Damn you asthma, why can't you just leave me alone. I don't know if it was the pollen, or my medicine isn't doing it's job or what but I know it is more than just being out of breath from running hard. By now I have been running with this condition enough to know the difference between being winded, and asthma symptoms. My body has more juice left in it but my lungs just say no. Thanks a lot.

Thankfully I was able to finish the run at a decent pace and still feeling good. But it was a lot of slowing down to catch my breath that reminds me of my symptoms last fall. All I can do is take it day by day at this point. See how things go, if they stay the same or get worse I go back to the doctor. If they go away I wait until my next appointment in August. Hopefully they decide to go away, that's my vote anyways. Hear that lungs? I'm asking you to please get better. I swear you'll thank me for all this running when we're old and you're still in good shape. K thanks.

xx Sara

Difficultly Moderate

When I was sick last week I emailed Coach Jack to get a second opinion on my stuffy head. He advised I enjoy my time off and run when I feel better. This was easier said than done, and the longer I went without running the more I craved it. Deny it all you want, running is an addiction of the worst and best kind.

With Broad Street last Sunday, I knew I should take at least one day off for rest after such a long run, which made Tuesday (yesterday) my first REAL day back on the ground since before Rutgers. I had gone on a few walks and jogs and even a decent run on the treadmill but I hadn't felt that burning feeling in my lungs and legs in a while. Nothing was going to get in the way of my run, even mother nature knew to give me a good day. That morning I awoke to a cool crisp breeze slipping into my room coaxing me out of bed even earlier than usual.

No lie the first thing that came to my mind was "I get to run today" followed by a nice big smile. There is nothing I love more than waking up to nice weather, early enough to get some stretching/ yoga in before work. All day I could barely concentrate, distracted, waiting for the clock to hit 5 so I could get home. I impatiently sat through 45 minutes of traffic all the way home, practically ran through the door and began getting dressed. I had a mini panic attack when I couldn't find my inhaler, and then quickly remembered it was in my race bag from Sunday. (Note to self: Need new race day bag - post race banana got squished at bottom of current bag and insides are all sticky)

Ever since a bad speed workout a few weeks ago, I have been upping the amount of asthma meds back to my original doses. I had slipped up when I wasn't running so hard because I felt fine, but now I wanted to push harder and I didn't want any excuse to hold me back. So in addition to albuterol before running, I take Flovent in the morning, and at night (when I remember) So far I am finding this combo works pretty well, and I'm just playing it by ear for the next few weeks so see if it continues to work. For now as long as the shortness of breath comes only when running I assume I just need to condition myself more.

Even as I headed out the door I didn't yet know what kind of workout I wanted to do. The only thing I knew is I wanted a challenge. I chose a route that had some little hills, and contemplated running hard on the hills. I thought about doing tempo but I like to time myself for that and I wasn't sure of any mile markers along this course (Note to self: remind Boyfriend of this when pleading my case for a Garmin). Finally I settled on one of my favorite workouts, a negative split out and back. Easy to accomplish just run faster on the way back than on the way out and you have a successful workout. So I stared down the street, early evening sun in my face, cool air in my lungs. It was so freeing to take those first few steps, no pain, no discomfort, just movement. I forced myself to hold back, because my first instinct was to just fly. It was incredible just to feel every muscle working.

Keeping a steady pace, my mind kept looping back to the fact that I was out running and feeling good. I didn't much care about my pace, just that it was a level between easy and moderate. I started to wonder, if intervals are moderately difficult what could I call today? Moderate? That just sounded boring. I wanted it to have more words. Moderately medium? Oh like that was a whole lot better. It wasn't easy, that's for sure. I was definitely struggling for breath at some points and slowed down a little bit even though I didn't want to. I passed a few runners who looked like they were struggling. Whenever this happens I want to reach out and high five them, or say something like "keep going you can do it". Most times I keep my mouth shut because I don't want to startle/scare/freak anyone out.

Before I know it, the trail I am runing comes to an end as intersects with a main street and I start to guess my time. I have not been looking at my watch the whole run and I decide if my time is 20 minutes (for two miles) I will be happy. Forced to stop and wait for the green light to cross the street I cheated and glanced down at my wrist. Fifteen minutes and change with roughly a quarter mile to go. Shit. I hoped all the people waiting at the bus stop were not offended by my random out-loud cursing. Thankfully it is the city of Philadelphia and I don't think they noticed. The light turned green and charged on, turning around almost at the same moment that my watch read 17:00:00. It was that moment that i realized I had almost definitely miscalculated my mileage. I know I don't run that fast, even if I do, I don't run that fast after two weeks off. Never the less I turned around and headed back home.

I started noticing how much more fluid my running had felt today. Back on the path I tackled a small hill and realized it was easier than usual. Even with my distance being shorter than I had wanted, the sheer fact that running felt easier is success enough for me. Easier except for my lungs. It was during this second half of the run that my chest became really tight and even though the rest of my body wanted to run faster my lungs very stubbornly said no. I was forced to slow down at a few points until I could take in a whole breath, but as soon as I did I sped up again. The second half of the trail isn't too bad, until you get to the end and there are several stretches of uphill. At one point it intersects with a small parking lot and I watched a couple ahead of me trotting up ahead of me. Had it not been for them I probably would have slacked on that last little bit, but my inner competitive monster took over and I ran ahead of them. There was one last traffic light to stop for and I let myself catch my breath before the home stretch. In the past I used to be that weird jogging-in-place girl at traffic lights. I was afraid if I stopped moving my feet I would never get started. But at this moment I needed the rest. A cyclist pulled up behind me and tried to make polite conversation about the gorgeous day, there was not enough in me to respond so I just nodded. I watched as the light turned yellow for the crossing traffic, bent over with my hands on my knees as if bowing low to the ground to get a good push off start. The light turned green. I took off. My legs felt detached from by body my lungs gasping for any little bit of breath they could get and then as fast as it had started it was over, I hit the end of my route and I was done. Ok so maybe it was a little more than a moderate run.

Later that night I checked my mileage on Mapmyrun.com. I was right, it had only been 3.68 miles and not 4 like I had thought but I was happy for having pushed myself and maybe a little relived that I didn't gain some magical speed overnight. As much as I dream of being fast I really enjoy seeing my week to week progress. Sometimes it is what brings me joy out of my running. When all the hard work pays off and you improve your time, even if by only seconds. If I woke up tomorrow and could suddenly run 8 minute miles I would almost feel sad that I missed all the time and work that took me to that point. Another day another run.

xx Sara