13 weeks until race day.
Had a bit of an injury last week. Luckily, it wasn't my legs. We were lifting weights on Sunday afternoon, and I was feeling all, you know, ambitious and strong. Halfway through my second set of dumbell flys, I let my arms go out a little farther than usual and found myself unable to lift the left one back up and had to kind of twist my arm and drop the weight to the floor. Immediately I knew I'd strained my tricep. Initially it didn't hurt much, but by the next day it was pretty sore and on Tuesday it wasn't any better. Before I started running I wasn't aware of this, but your upper body gets used more than you think when you run, so I held off on my Tuesday run and did it on Wednesday when my arm felt good enough for running but not quite good enough for a tricep workout. It's all good now.
Friday's long run was my longest distance yet: 12 miles. Made it in 3:17:20. Not that I'm racing through my long runs, but I'm pushing myself to the upper end of "comfortable pace." I was pretty happy with the end time, because that means my average pace was faster than my 8 mile run last week. So, you know, w00t.
Since I've had a recurring problem with inner arm chafing, I tried wearing a yoga top I have that doesn't have trim on it. That didn't solve the problem, although it wasn't quite as bad as it has been. I guess I'm going to have to start experimenting with anti-chafing products, because the last thing I want to deal with on race day is the discomfort of my arm being rubbed raw. It's not cool.
And I'm also going to have to start paying more attention to keeping up a regular stretching routine. By about mile 9 my muscles were getting pretty tight. But the hardest part of the increased distance was the sheer monotony of going around and around the loop 8 times. I was only on the trail about 20 minutes longer than during my 10-miler, but this time I started to get tired of being out there after a couple of hours. I'm curious to see if I have the same problem on my upcoming 14-miler.
About Me
- Jaye
- I'm an artist, convenience store general manager, Nine Inch Nails fan, and hopeless internet addict. And now I'm a marathoner! Blogged By Jaye is my general-purpose blog, and Fat to Finish Line is my running journal. Occasional foul language included on both sites.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
The hardest part about learning to run
As I was running on the treadmill last night, it suddenly occurred to me why I still feel like running is difficult, even though I'm very quickly gaining endurance. It's not painful anymore, my stride is a lot more relaxed and natural than it was at the beginning, and it takes me a while to really get out of breath.
The difference, though, is that when I walk -- even when I walk really hard -- my brain wanders. As soon as my body finds its rhythm, I don't really have to pay conscious attention to how I'm moving. I just keep going, and my brain finds other things to do.
But when I'm running, I still have to think about it. Instead of thinking about the things I need to do when I get home or getting caught up in the lyrics of whatever song is on my iPod or brainstorming ideas for centerpieces for my wedding or deciding what to cook for dinner, my brain has to think about what my legs are doing and remember to relax my shoulders and pep-talk myself over the hills. I'm very conscious of every step, and I don't get to that point where my brain can wander off and let my legs go on autopilot. That's where the zen of walking comes from. I can get so distracted by other things that suddenly I've gone a mile before I realize it.
Guess I'll just have to keep running until I'm comfortable enough with it that my brain can stop babysitting my body.
The difference, though, is that when I walk -- even when I walk really hard -- my brain wanders. As soon as my body finds its rhythm, I don't really have to pay conscious attention to how I'm moving. I just keep going, and my brain finds other things to do.
But when I'm running, I still have to think about it. Instead of thinking about the things I need to do when I get home or getting caught up in the lyrics of whatever song is on my iPod or brainstorming ideas for centerpieces for my wedding or deciding what to cook for dinner, my brain has to think about what my legs are doing and remember to relax my shoulders and pep-talk myself over the hills. I'm very conscious of every step, and I don't get to that point where my brain can wander off and let my legs go on autopilot. That's where the zen of walking comes from. I can get so distracted by other things that suddenly I've gone a mile before I realize it.
Guess I'll just have to keep running until I'm comfortable enough with it that my brain can stop babysitting my body.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Marathon Training, Week 6
14 weeks until race day.
Apparently I'm better at keeping up with weekly workouts than weekly blogging.
We're back on the workout wagon, and things have mostly been going well. But with all the running I'm doing now, I have finally reached that point where I've noticed the lower body weight workouts are negatively affecting my running ability. Especially now that we've been doing a more traditional bodybuilding workout, I think it's not been beneficial to try and get my leg muscles to train for two different types of activities at once. It leaves my legs too fatigued and/or too sore when it's time to hit the treadmill. So from now until the race I'll be saving my legs for running, but I have and will continue to do my upper body workouts.
I did my 8 miles Friday night alone, as my sister and I couldn't agree on a time to meet to run. She's not a night person, and I hate the sun. In the end, I shaved five minutes off my 8-mile long run time, and that was in 90 degree weather. I'm still wondering when this is going to get really difficult.
My sister has decided, though, that she's not up for a full marathon. She's planning to do the first part (half?) and then meet me towards the end to see how I'm doing. So I'm kind of losing my training partner. In some ways this makes things easier, because now I can do long runs at my own pace. On the other hand, this means I'll probably be doing the rest of my long runs at Cooper on the 1.5 mile looped trail because I don't want to just head out of town on an isolated trail by myself. But I'm cool with it. I was worried at the beginning of this process that I would need somebody to spur me on to keep going with the training and do the long runs every week without skipping, but so far I've not had trouble keeping up, so it's all good.
Apparently I'm better at keeping up with weekly workouts than weekly blogging.
We're back on the workout wagon, and things have mostly been going well. But with all the running I'm doing now, I have finally reached that point where I've noticed the lower body weight workouts are negatively affecting my running ability. Especially now that we've been doing a more traditional bodybuilding workout, I think it's not been beneficial to try and get my leg muscles to train for two different types of activities at once. It leaves my legs too fatigued and/or too sore when it's time to hit the treadmill. So from now until the race I'll be saving my legs for running, but I have and will continue to do my upper body workouts.
I did my 8 miles Friday night alone, as my sister and I couldn't agree on a time to meet to run. She's not a night person, and I hate the sun. In the end, I shaved five minutes off my 8-mile long run time, and that was in 90 degree weather. I'm still wondering when this is going to get really difficult.
My sister has decided, though, that she's not up for a full marathon. She's planning to do the first part (half?) and then meet me towards the end to see how I'm doing. So I'm kind of losing my training partner. In some ways this makes things easier, because now I can do long runs at my own pace. On the other hand, this means I'll probably be doing the rest of my long runs at Cooper on the 1.5 mile looped trail because I don't want to just head out of town on an isolated trail by myself. But I'm cool with it. I was worried at the beginning of this process that I would need somebody to spur me on to keep going with the training and do the long runs every week without skipping, but so far I've not had trouble keeping up, so it's all good.
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