One Month Away – Shit!

by BusyMama on May 22, 2013

I am freaking out.  I have 30 days until my full marathon.  EEEEEEEP!!!

Rationally, I know I shouldn’t be so worried.  I have (mostly) followed my training plan.  My long runs are getting easier and my recovery from long runs is taking less time.  I have a plan for how I am going to run this: I am going to walk through every aid station for a little recovery and must continue walking until I have finished hydrating/fueling.   I have a hotel room booked so I don’t have to wake up at 3 am to be able to get to downtown Seattle and that I can walk to and crash in after the race (hello, room service!). I have a check list of everything I need to pack to take with me.  I even have a VIP Potty Pass from Brooks.  I’m pretty much prepared… but I’m still freaking out.

It isn’t the distance in and of itself.  It’s the distance in the race setting.  One thing I realized with my last two half marathons is that even when I have an intention of pacing myself a certain way, I absorb the energy from all of those other runners and get caught up in it.  I want to run with all of them, not just run, but keep up.  Even though we’re all there for different reasons, we all share the drive – push and finish.  It’s a powerful experience and I love it when it overtakes my body.  It’s a high!  Only sometimes, it’s not in my best interest to allow it to.

I have a plan – for the next month leading up to Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle, I am going to run as much as I can without music so that I can work on my mental strength.  I’m also going to do more yoga on my off days – P90X is going to have to wait.  Yoga is something that I love and hate to do.  I love the idea of yoga, I love how I feel after yoga but I hate actually doing yoga.  My mind wants to quit because yoga is so much about pacing yourself.   You don’t bounce from pose to pose, you breathe and move with your breath.  It’s that yoga mentality that I need to work on embracing.

I also need to work on trust.  I need to trust that my training plan will get me there.  I need to trust in my body – that it is strong enough.  That I have conditioned it properly.  That it WILL NOT FAIL ME.  And that when the time comes and I’m standing in my corral ready to go, I must trust that I have the mental strength and control not to let myself get lost in the race energy but to run my own race, listening to my body and pacing myself the way I need to.

30 more days.  16 more training runs.  Lots of deep breaths.

My racing friends: what race scared you the most before you did it? How did you get your mind right?  And how do you get yourself to SLEEP the nights before race day?

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New Shoes!!!

by BusyMama on May 21, 2013

Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle is getting closer and my feet are getting more and more fucked up.  I guess that’s all part of the package when you’re training for a full marathon, eh?

I managed to run Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland with mild foot issues – I wore my Mizuno Wave Ronins instead of my Mizuno Enigmas and so instead of having blister pain, my right big toe just kept dislocating (not a big deal – this has happened with all of my fingers and toes since I was a toddler – I just reset and move on).  However, since Wave Ronins are so light weight I choose to only wear them for speed work or races.  I’m too nervous to wear them on long training runs (already had 2 stress fractures in my foot, thanks!) so  I wear my Enigmas for training – they have much more support and cushion and they fit so well – no curling my toes running down hill, no fancy lacing techniques needed other than a heel lock.  The only problem is, they give me these horrible blisters and my right foot’s blisters are starting to turn into something a little more serious looking/feeling.

I posted about this in the Sweat Pink Ambassadors Facebook group and someone mentioned that it may be that there is too much room in the arch (where I blister).  This morning, I took the Enigmas out for a rainy 8.5 mile run to see if trying a different lacing technique would help, making the laces tighter around the arch.  It didn’t – I just ended up blistery and macerated from the rain and the top of my feet felt sore from the pressure of the laces.  So, I decided to take M.T. with me to Plateau Runner and try on some new shoes.  It couldn’t hurt, right?

I tried on Brooks Glycerins, Mizuno Wave Riders, Saucony Rides, some extra cushy Asics I can’t remember the names of, New Balances and finally Brooks Ghosts.  By the time I was done run-testing all of these shoes on the treadmill, I was wondering why I bothered going out on a morning run!  In the end, the Brooks Ghosts won and on purchasing these bad boys, I actually felt kind of guilty – like I’m cheating on Mizuno.

Even though they’re not Mizunos, I was loving how cushy these shoes were in the forefoot which is important to me after healing 2 stress fractures in my left foot.  Cognitively, I know I can run safely in a minimalist shoe but emotionally, I can’t help feeling nervous in them.  Injuries have a way of leaving you neurotic.  I tried running in Saucony’s Kinvaras while I was at Plateau Runner and even though they felt okay, I could feel my upper body tensing trying to lessen the impact in my feet.  Maybe someday, P.R. will host a natural running clinic so I can get over this fear of minimalist shoes but for now with 1 month until my marathon, I’m sticking with what I feel safe running in.

Good grief – there should be a mental health category just for runners and their weird fueling and gear OCD.

Anyway, one cool score with buying a bunch of Brooks gear (I got some compression capris too) was this bad boy came with it for free:

It’s a sticker I can stick on my race bib for RnR Seattle that gives me access to VIP porta potties – running water and flushing toilets!!! After running RnR Portland with the stomach flu or food poisoning, I cannot tell you how much this means to me.  Kneeling in a porta potty is a terrible albeit humbling experience that I do not want to relive ever in my entire life. EVER.  E-V-E-R!!!!!   So thanks to Brooks, I get to #runhappy and #peehappy.  Sweet!  Remind me to hashtag all of my instagram photos from RnR Seattle with #peehappy.

Your turn! What is your favorite shoe brand? Have you ever felt guilty for trying out a different brand?

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland Recap

May 20, 2013

This race was incredibly fun and incredibly awful at the same time. Zac and I drove down South to Portland on Saturday morning and immediately upon our arrival in Portland, we hit up the race expo and the neighboring gun show (hey, why not?).  At this point, I was feeling fine.  No symptoms of my [...]

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Kirkland Half Marathon Recap

May 14, 2013

The Kirkland Half Marathon was this last Sunday (Mother’s Day!) and was also my first race of this year and the first of 2 half marathons I am running a week apart.  Following my awesome blogger friend Amy from Writing While Running’s advice to take 1 of my 2 back to back halves slow and [...]

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When am I Having Another Child?

May 9, 2013

A lot of people love to ask me this question.  Honestly, if you ask me this question, you’re an asshole.  Or you have never met my son. The thing is, not all babies are created equal.  By that I  mean, most children are pretty tame.  When we go to Mommy & Me classes or even [...]

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Let’s Rock ‘n’ Roll!

May 7, 2013

I made a decision that is a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I’m doing it.  This Sunday is the Kirkland Half (this is in my comfort zone) and next weekend, my husband and I are driving down to Portland, OR for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland Half Marathon.  Now rationally, I know [...]

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Fitness Goal: Visvamitrasana

May 1, 2013

I have a new fitness goal! Well, along with finishing 26.2.  I really want to be able to master this pose: So today after doing P90X Shoulders & Arms, I decided to start working on that.  Instead of Ab Ripper X because… I hate that stupid workout.  :) I started off by warming up my [...]

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Friday Love

April 26, 2013

So this morning started with me getting my ass handed to me by my RPM instructor.  This new round is a killer and I’m not sure if I love or hate the intervals between standing climbs and standing sprints – but one thing is for sure, it makes it hard as hell to hold it [...]

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The Sahara Vagina

April 25, 2013

Well, one in particular is anyway. My son, who is an adorable little two year old boy, has recently been on a mission to drive his mother to alcoholism.  There’s a reason that I call him Mini Terrorist.  The child has actually started fires in our house before he was even TWO.  And now he [...]

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Boston Strong

April 24, 2013

Monday night, Plateau Runner hosted our local Boston Strong 5k.  Considering that our town is smallish and a little isolated, I was pretty impressed with the turnout.  Especially given that it was Monday night at 6:30 pm. What impressed me even more was how many people were there that had actually ran in the Boston [...]

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