rationalization, justification or smart thinking

mind and body, heart and soul, thinking and feeling

I am loving my training- my runs are feeling good some not til i'm done lol but all good well, until yesterday.  my left ankle started to feel a bit over done. I've been so careful to follow the training plan, get rest days but summer is my time to play.  there is the running but also the golf and stand up paddle boarding and lunch with friends and going out with friends.  I have not yet had time to ride my bike.  but my ankle is saying enough.  my new trail shoes are 4mm drop and my regular running shoes are a 10 so i think that's the issue.  I've been careful to run shorter distances in the trail shoes but must have overdone. 

so yesterday I was supposed to run 6 but I decided to pass on the run.  not.an.easy.decision. i wanted to run but my head said rest that ankle- you will be walking at the at&t golf tournament, you have been doing lots of running and yoga and sup so rest.  it will be ok.  my heart was sad.  my soul needed the run. 

rationalization, justification or smart thinking- i skipped the run, my head won, my ankle is better- i say smart thinking. (my soul understands mostly)

am i getting it done

I am now in my 3rd week of training and it fits.  I had my second b2b (back to back) runs last week and surprised myself with how strong I felt for Fridays run.  (yes I do believe the pizza was important  :)  ) 

feeling good but also feeling like i'm working- a very nice balance.  yet I find myself googling (or safaring) how to run 50's.  am I running enough?  strength training enough?  eating the right foods?  doing as much as I can without overdoing? 

in the past two weeks, I 've read/reread 3 books (will share in a later post), multiple websites....loving it but thinking I need a bit of calmness with it all.  maybe once I start doing the bigger miles, or the long runs on the trails or or or..

then, I while reading cutting for stone this afternoon, read this "Life...you live it forward but understand it backward."  maybe I'm trying to understand it all forward....

i found the secret to strong long runs...

and it is...PIZZA!  What a great and tasty discovery! 

Last summer Sean was meeting friends for dinner or out of town for work or something for a few thursdays so I started to run out and pick up a pizza for dinner.  and then noticed that my long runs were so much better- faster stronger easier. Could this be a coink-dinky?  Don't think so anymore.  Especially after today.  We stopped for pizza wed after stand up paddle boarding.  And I ran so strong today- with about 1/2 mile to go I realized that I had pizza two days ago.  So now I know this to be true and I'm sharing it with everyone. 

Pizza (vegan pizza- thinner crust, lots of veggies and no cheese!)  two days before a long run or race.  What beautiful thing! and a beer or glass of wine is an added bonus ;)

nap time?

well here is a bit of a crazy story but one that has me thinking about racing/mental toughness/can I really do 50...  running the colonial Williamsburg half marathon this past feb...at about mile 9 or so...

....thinking to myself you know that is a really pretty section of woods off to the right- a little hillside nice and protected looks cozy  uummmm would love to curl up and take a nap.  *take*a*nap* what the hell?  as soon as I thought that crazy thought I decided I was a bit crazy for sure- a nap in the woods curled up in the leaves?   so I regained my senses quickly tg and ended up with a 7 minute pr but that idea of a nap in the leaves in feb still confounds me... what or better yet why did I think that?  mental.  nuff said.

new shoes

received a gift cert to fleet feet and I came home with these- really not appealing visually but a dream to run in!  very light, just grippy enough (for what I know) and comfy over rocks and the road.  and hey with the word trail in the name might even start to feel like a trail runner ;)

 

 

and the rest of the crew

 

 

and its time for a new pair of asics- the pair in the middle back is getting ready for retirement- ran my first marathon in them and they have been great but its nearly time- they may have a few miles still in them so maybe for rainy days

 

when to replace running shoes

 

thank you fleet feet for awesome shoe fittings and recs!!!

 



back to backs

today was my 2nd run of my Back to Back runs.  this is what makes training for the 50 miler different than for the marathon.  a long run on thursday (yesterday was 8) followed by a shorter long run on  friday (today's 4). my coach said several times "its about time on your feet"  not speed.  this will be a big shift for me since I've been working on increasing my speed for the past year.  it was a great morning for running- 60F overcast and not so humid.  and I felt good!  love that feeling after a run where I feel mellow happy calm- is that the runners high?  I don't feel high more like in a zen happy calm place.  which I like :)

training of the spirit

so training plan- check
nutrition plan- updated check

but what about mental training?  how do you prepare for the longest race you've ever run with a section that other runners say is monotonous - so I've run 18-20 miles a few times by myself without boredom or mental fatigue, completed a marathon with a long somewhat boring straight stretch down the main road in the obx- talked myself thru hard parts of races of varying lengths but what about the rumored monotony of 26 on the c&o-  I am good with being with my own thoughts- I prefer to run with myself rather than a ipod music or podcast  often enjoy chatting with others during group runs although I admit I am more of a listener.  can you train for mental part?

I finished The Longest Race this morning and Ed Ayres said that the training of the spirit has been the years already spent training and racing.  we'll see..

The Longest Race