Progress, Small But Mighty

Scheduled: 3 Actual: 3 RPE: 4

I ran these 3 miles in about 40 minutes. They might always be my slowest; my body really resists the effort of running.

It was a little less humid this morning but not much. I woke up and told myself I was going to finish all the miles, so I did. Also, I made plans to call a friend back home so that motivated me to get out of bed in time to run and shower before the call. It really helps me to have things outside myself motivating me to do something. That's one of the reasons I wanted to do this marathon. I really need to learn how to make myself a priority! But it will be a process so I need to try and work with myself. Giving myself another reason to wake up on time really helps.

Lately, I have noticed that I don't feel tired or sore until after I've stopped running. In weeks past I felt every little ache and discomfort; I only stopped short of naming them. But after my 7-mile run last Friday I think my mind shifted a bit from the pain. It's there, I know it's there but I just keep running. It doesn't phase me anymore. I've accepted it as a fact of my training and now I just run with it, as if it's my running buddy. Small but mighty progress.

I sprained my ankle March of 2009 and I was worried how much of this training it could handle. Since February of this year I have had low back pain and knowing that running can be a strain on your back I worried how much training my back could take. But so far I actually feel much better on the days I run as opposed to the days I don't.

I haven't had any ankle pain at all. Sometimes during my runs my back aches a bit but after stretching it feels just fine. I don't run during the weekend and that's when I notice more back pain. I'm going to stick to this training schedule with days off but once I get back to running after the marathon I think I'll run as many days a week as I can since it seems to be helping.

To be honest, though it'll make me sound like a crazy person given what I thought last week, I am really looking forward to my Friday run.

Let's Running.

Reality Check

Scheduled: 4 Actual: 4 RPE: 4

The first mile is really a struggle for me. My body is still waking up and my mind is foggy. It probably doesn't help that half the time--or more!--I wake up to my alarm and mutter groggily to myself, "I really don't wanna do this." I'll keep working on that positive attitude. My body felt rusty; as I warmed up in that first mile I swear I heard myself creaking like the Tinman in Wizard of Oz. It was about a 17 minute mile.

Mile 2 and 3 were my best miles and I finished them in 12 minutes each. I walked about 3/4 of my last mile because of my leg cramps and finished in about 15 minutes. I think my mantra was off. Instead of just saying, "I am getting stronger" I said, "My calves are getting stronger." I think that was a mistake because it reminded me too much that my calves were cramping.

Now is time for a reality check. I have been really worried about how long my miles take. I know it's early in my training and maybe I'll get faster as I progress but I haven't had any improvement yet. I decided to calculate and see just how much trouble I was going to be in unless I didn't pick up the pace. Turns out, absolutely none! If I run an average of 12 minute miles over the course of 26.2 miles I will finish in about 5 hours, not 6 like I'm expecting. So I officially need to give myself a break and just enjoy my training.

Let's Running.

Day One of New Schedule=SUCCESS!

Scheduled: 3 miles Actual: 3 miles RPE: 5

First an update on my diet: I decided to cut out pop and french fries. I'd like to cut out all deep-fried foods but I know that if I set that rule I'd just want to break it because it seems too difficult. But by saying I won't eat fries I hope to make myself think twice before eating other deep-fried foods. I made breakfast for dinner Friday night but instead of hash browns I ate rice with my scrambled eggs and an English muffin with blueberry jam on the side. So far, so good.

It's still very humid and I started today's run pretty discouraged since I realized it'll be another three or four weeks before this humidity clears up a little. I ran and walked my first mile in 17 minutes. That's a new record for me...and not the good kind. My calf and shin muscles have been really cramped the last few runs and I think I've let that discourage me as well. I stretched half-way through my 17-minute mile but it didn't help too much. As I was getting to my house (the one-mile marker) I decided that instead of stopping like I normally do and having to will myself to start again I would just run through onto my second mile.

My legs were still cramped. My whole run I felt like I was on one of those tracks at airports that are like escalators just flat. Only that I was going the wrong way!

But I decided I was going to finish this run, run all the miles, and start week three off right. So I kept my eyes on the ground a few feet in front of me and repeated, "My legs are really sore but that's OK because that means I'm getting stronger." Eventually I shortened it to, "I'm getting stronger" and timed it with my breathing: IN IN-OUT OUT-IN IN. "I am/ get-ting/stron-ger."

And that's how I ran two solid miles without stopping. My leg cramps worked themselves out with about a half-mile to go but that's OK because I finished my run regardless.

Let's Running.

The Not-Quite-Best Laid Plans

Scheduled: 6 miles Actual: 2 miles RPE: 7

I believe my poor show today speaks to several weak links in my running plan and I have used this extremely frustrating experience as an opportunity to re-vamp my routine.

1.) Having a day off before and after the run is important both mentally and physically and in the future I will not refuse to get up.

2.) I really need to start watching my diet. All week on my running days I have felt very exhausted and weak by the afternoon. Some of that has to do with adjusting to the heat, I know. But I also know that I haven't altered my diet to include the amount of carbs and veggies/fruits that my body so desperately needs now.

My additional struggle is school lunch. We all eat the same thing and there is a policy of not wasting anything so no matter how many teachers we have on any given day in the staffroom, whether 10 or 25, we eat all the food. Insane? Yes. About a year into the crazy world of Japanese school lunch I started having trouble finishing lunch. I stopped having lunch with the students because they aren't allowed to throw out anything and I didn't want to be a bad example.

But still I could only finish half my lunch. I started eating only the soup, salad, and meat of the day and skipping the rice (I'd wrap the rice in plastic and take it home, that way it didn't look like I was wasting anything). But I realize I need to alter this plan, and risk being scolded for throwing out some of my soup since I need the carbs from the rice/noodles/bread of the day.

3.) I need to change my running schedule. The program outlined in Non-Runner's Trainer suggests we complete the long run Saturday mornings. This is a good idea for so many reasons and has worked well for most if not everyone who has followed this program. However, for my life now it is not a good plan. I only get to see Stephen on the weekends since he lives about three hours away. Taking time out of my already limited time with him kills my motivation and attitude when I run on weekends. Also, I end up running late in the morning, around 9:00 or 10:00, and by then the sun is scorching and the humidity is stifling.

Thus I unveil my new plan: eat all of the carb at lunch, carb and veggie heavy dinners, and running Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday with the long run Friday.

This way, I will avoid skipping or shortening runs and will also skip the frustration and disappointment of not finishing them. Two birds!

Total Miles This Week: 11

Let's Running.

Getting Out of Bed is the Hardest Step

Scheduled: 3 miles Actual: 3 miles! RPE: 5

I skipped my planned Thursday morning run because I refused to get out of bed. It's been a pretty mild week as far as weather and classes go so I figured I'd have energy to run after work. Boy was that a bad plan! It ended up being very hot Thursday and I was exhausted by the time I got home. There is no air-conditioning at work and sweating profusely for 8 hours a day really takes it out of me. So, instead of running I took a nap.

That threw my schedule out of whack because for my long run I'm supposed to have a day off before and after for recovery. But I decided skipping a run wasn't a good idea and went ahead with a morning run today. For some reason I had a ton of really stressful dreams and so when my alarm went off I was more than ready to get out of bed.

It was sprinkling a little so I didn't take my cell phone on this run like I usually do. I only know that I averaged about 15 minutes per mile. It was really humid like it was Tuesday and so I slowed down my already slow pace (at this stage I could probably hop these miles on one foot as fast as I'm running them).

I didn't use any mantras. I was happy to be out there running so I didn't need to focus my mind like usual. I thought about the marathon and my training routes when I get back home. I am concerned about the lack of hills in my current route and want to make sure that at least my routes back home will have hills if I can't--ironically--find them in my town in Japan. My thoughts wandered a bit but I tried to at least focus on aspects of running.