Wednesday, July 10, 2013

On the Road

So I'm on the road for work this week. Of course on the shuttle to the hotel, I'm looking scoping out places that I can continue my training.

Yeah..so I ran 4 miles today. Ummm......I've lived on the West Coast for the last 7 years which does not have humidity, and I'm currently in Atlanta where it's only 50% humidity, and I'm dying. Like I'm having a hard time breathing and that's just walking. I busted out 4 miles like a champ, but I thought I was going to die! Okay...maybe not die, but it felt like I was running on day 1 like day 1 of ever working out. I have a 3 mile trek tomorrow which isn't too bad, but I had planned to run the long distance run this week - 7 miles - here. I think I'm going have to re-think that. I just don't know if I will make it.

But anyway, when you're traveling, plan to work out! Pack for it! And if it takes up a little more room in your suitcase, look at it this way, if you keep up the running, soon your smaller clothes won't be taking up the room anymore.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Marathon Training - Week 2

Well, this post is mainly week 1 and 2 wrapped up into 1 post. 

Week 1 - Well, whenever you start anything, you're excited and can't wait for the next day to accomplish your goal. I did well with the miles, and I felt good the paths I was taking. They included hills and sprints and all my miles were staying within the main goal of keeping pace for a sub 4 hr. marathon finish. 

And then life happened.....

Staying up too late...not wanting to wake up the next morning...just saying that "I'll just make it up another day..."..."It doesn't matter if I skip that day..."

Well, let's just say that Week 2 was MAKE UP WEEK. 

My goal, my adventure, my journey for this marathon is follow everything in this training. I want people who are reading this to see the many miles that is put into doing a marathon, and the dedication and commitment that you have to make. Well, okay, not everyone has to do this, but I HAVE TO do this to make sure that I make it through. 

So I made up the mileage. I did an extra couple of miles on Tuesday, and then today, I did an extra 3 miles. I ran a total of 9 miles this morning, and I felt amazing. I ate half of a Lean Muscle Cookies & Cream Bar. Can I tell you...gross? I wanted to throw it up as I was choking it down. There was the taste and the look of Cookies & Cream, but the overwhelming taste of chalk in my mouth was way too much. And my first 3 miles sucked too as a result. I just felt the bar sitting in the middle of my chest. I felt like I couldn't get my breathing under control and that my body was just going into autopilot mode. But I will say around mile 4, that heaviness went away, and I felt powerful. I felt like I could run and run and run...and I did. I had made a plan at mile 2 that I wasn't going to run up this giant hill toward the end, but at mile 7, I had convinced my body of otherwise, and I ran up that hill. I felt amazing! 

I learned a hard lesson this week. 1) Don't miss days, but 2) 50% of this training is really about going through the mental exercise of fighting your body through another mile, another building marker, or just another step to reach the end goal. 

What made me really smile this morning was that my mom had texted this morning, just letting me know that they had made it back home from their trip, and she was wondering what we were doing today. I told her that I had ran 9 miles this morning, and my dad instantly calls me, and the first thing out of his mouth was, "You impress me." I was totally shocked by this statement. I mean, I run 9 miles for fun. It was a challenge, but it was fun. To me, I hadn't thought that it was impressive. Then, my dad tells me that he has to start looking for tickets, so he can watch me run 26.4 miles. I kindly reminded him that it was 26.2, but he said that I have to think 26.4, so I made sure that I run all the way through the finish line. 

Ah..good thinking...