After Work Runner

While I was training for the Utah Valley Marathon I thought things were going great. I was doing more runs outside instead of on the treadmill, I was figuring out my fueling for during the race and of course I was running a lot. Then all the sudden… BAM. My legs felt like lead 90% of the time, I couldn’t keep up my “easy” pace for more than a few miles and more often than not my runs were torturous. Why did this happen? I don’t know for sure, but my theory is I didn’t rest enough, I ran too much and too fast, I wasn't eating enough of the right things and eating too much of the wrong things (wait you mean I can’t eat a fun dip for dinner after a 10 mile run? News to me).

Not appropriate post-run dinner. Who knew?

This Sunday was 6 weeks till the Chicago Marathon and guess who started feeling tired and sluggish again? Luckily, this time it hasn’t affected my running yet… just my life. I have been super tired and moody and so hungry to the point that I will just eat whatever is around even if it isn’t the best quality (saltines with peanut butter and jelly anyone?)

Marathon training is about pushing your body to a breaking point without actually REACHING that point and I can feel it creeping up on me. So to avoid hitting a similar road block I’ve had to make some changes to my schedule this week. Mainly, for this week I’ve become an after work runner.

For the past two months I have happily been a morning runner with very few exceptions. Getting up was hard, but it was so nice to have my run out of the way and go on with my day.  The idea of switching  up my schedule this week came to me Sunday night. I was lying in bed after going bed at 8pm, but not actually falling asleep till almost 11, panicking about rising for my morning run. As I started up at the ceiling I took inventory of how I was feeling: I was tired, I had a dull ache in my calves, my head was pounding and I just felt spent. I realized I needed more sleep EVERY night this week not just that night. Thus came about the change.  

I knew the change meant I’d be getting home much later and that it risked something I ate throughout the day interfering with my run, but I needed sleep, I needed rest and I needed the strength to make it through my last five and a half weeks of training. So in order to ensure that the runs actually happened I put into effect a few motivation techniques: 

1. Packing gym clothes the night before – I got out of bed and quickly threw the clothes, shoes and water bottle I had put out for my morning run into my gym bag and brought it out into the kitchen. I also put my purse in there so I wouldn’t forget to take it.
2. Changing into gym clothes BEFORE leaving work – This one got me weird looks from my boss, but 10 minutes before I left work I changed into my running clothes. That way I couldn’t make excuses that I should just go home since I was already in my clothes. (Side Note: My boss thought that I was running home from work and although it is only a 13 mile run to my apartment, at least a mile of it is on a highway with no sidewalk so my boss said he was “glad to see I was alive” when he came in this morning.)
3. Staying hydrated – I don’t usually bring water with me on the bus ride home, because it’s an hour long and I don’t want to spend most of it having to pee. However, when heading straight to the gym it is a necessary evil.
4. Eat carefully – I have a long list of pre-running eating no-nos that is still growing. I knew I had to eat something somewhat plain that was carb heavy, but would keep me filled in the hour and a half from when I ate it to when I started running. Oatmeal for the win!
5. Visualize – I usually read or watch Netflix on my bus ride home, but yesterday I spent it in the zone thinking about my run. It kept me awake and actually excited for my run by the time I got there!

So how did my first post-work run go yesterday? Really great! I was sleepy tired and by the end I was starving, but I was still able to keep up my motivation and increase my speed throughout the whole 8.5 mile run. I didn’t watch TV and only listened to music for the last 1.5 miles (did I mention how hungry I was? Yeah. I needed a distraction to stop thinking about ice cream) and walked home so happy to know I had successfully finished. 

I am hoping that by working out in the afternoons I’ll have the opportunity to reset my clock, catch up on some sleep and start next week strong and rested. I slept 9 beautiful hours last night and already feel so much better. The three day weekend ahead shouldn’t hurt either. Hopefully by next Tuesday morning I’ll be ready to go back to my early work out regime for the final 4.5 weeks of training! 

Speaking of schedule changes, Ben’s schedule is changing a lot, too. On top of starting a new job a couple weeks ago he is starting school today. I was always super excited for the start of school, but Ben doesn’t share my enthusiasm... Tonight he very sweetly switched around his work schedule so he could be home with me since I was getting lonely with him working so many nights. I see a mini-date night in our future :-).

Kind of Sick Day

I was exhausted yesterday to the point I felt ill and thought I might have the flu. It may or may not have had something to do with all of those 4am wake ups the nights previous... I made it into work in a haze, finished all necessary preparations for the weekend and took the rest of the day as a sick day. After another hazy bus/train ride home I collapsed and slept for 2 hours. Since I hadn’t eaten all day because I wasn’t feeling well I woke up famished and proceeded to inhale everything I had packed for my work lunch and then some. I felt better, but still not great. I spent my night on the couch resting up, eating waffles, reading a book and watching a Netflix. Oh and hanging out with Veronica.

I see kitten.

After my incredibly exciting evening I went to bed early and got a full 10 hours of sleep. I woke up feeling so much better and ready to get my Saturday long run on. First, I had to get my Jillian Six Week Six Pack on though. I try to get in ab work before my runs, especially my long runs, cause I never have the energy to afterwards. Veronica always thinks I am playing with her when I am jumping around and doing the moves and it is pretty freaking adorable. 

She needs to work on her burpee form.

After finishing my Jillian video I headed to the gym on foot (it is 3/4ths of a mile away). Today’s run was kinda a rough run for me. I had 15 miles on deck and they seemed more daunting than my 20 miles last week considering my little bout with feeling under the weather yesterday. On top of that, finding the right amount of balance of pre-long run eating is not an exact science and today was a major fail. There is a fine line between overly stuffed and I want to throw up through the whole run and I am famished and can’t keep my energy up. Today was definitely the latter. As soon as I started my run I felt low on energy. I can honestly say I spent me ENTIRE run thinking about food and what I wanted to eat when I got home.

I came home, showered and took a quick 20 minute powernap before face planting into a bowl of cereal… and then another bowl. Once Ben got home from work we headed to Costco to pick up a few more items for his Football Fantasy draft tonight. While there I had sooo many samples including, but not limited to: strawberry trifle, chicken parmasean, chicken linguinie, Snapple, pumpkin granola, nut bar and carmel popcorn.

Now Ben is hosting his fantasy draft. He made a beautiful turkey for it and we had rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy to go with it for quite a tasty meal. I went back for 3 or 4 servings and am totally stuffed. 

The trophy needs to be repaired, but a picture of it is pending.

 

Treadmills, Beyonce, Taco Night and Fantasy Football

Remember yesterday when I said, “No WAY was I going to the gym at 4:00am”? Yeah, well this morning my body disagreed. Once again I was up at 4:00am, only this time instead of falling back into blissful sleep I stared at the ceiling for a half hour willing myself asleep for even just five more minutes, but mostly ended up just thinking about how I really wanted a strawberry Pop-Tart. At 4:30am I gave up on sleeping (and eating a Pop-Tart) and got ready for my run. 

Today, I had 10 miles on the agenda. I’ve worked hard so that every single one of my runs during my training for the Chicago Marathon has purpose (speed, endurance or recovery) and today’s was an endurance run at an easy pace. During my last training cycle I burned out and over-trained big time because I just ran and ran and ran as much and as fast as I could. This time around I am doing my best to avoid “junk miles” or miles that serve no training purpose and just exist to get extra mileage in. This run was supposed to be outside, but there was no way I was going out into my neighborhood at 4:30am in the morning. I would like to avoid being attacked by a dog (this has happened!), kidnapped or hit by a car thank you very much… This means I was relegated to the treadmill at the gym. 

I tried to take a picture of the time after I had already started running. Very smart.

My sister always asks me how I can STAND running long distances on a treadmill, but truthfully I really enjoy it. I set the incline at 1% to make up for the lack of wind resistance, input my pace and just run. I love it so much I came up with reasons WHY I love it:

1. When I started running, I ran exclusively on a treadmill for years and only started doing runs outside within the past year.
2. Treadmill speeds are a science to me and that makes it easier to track my progress and speed while remaining consistent. I know that a 6.2 is my recovery pace, a 6.5 is my easy pace, between a 6.8-7.0 is my marathon goal pace, ect. This allows me to just zone out, whereas outside I’m constantly checking my watch to make sure I’m not going too slow or fast.
3. There are TVs on the treadmills in my gym. Granted I usually spend at least the first hour with no TV or music, it is a good motivator to get me through the second half of my work out.
4. I generally am a very “thinky” person and have a lot on my mind aka I like to daydream. Embarrassingly enough I generally think about crossing the finish line at various marathons, but I also think about work, my family, Ben and usually what I get to eat after I finish my run or the next time I get to sleep.
5. Marathons are just as much about mental training as they are about physical training. If I can’t keep my mind occupied for one or two hours on a treadmill how can I keep it occupied for 3-4 hours during a marathon?

I ended up doing 11 miles since I had the extra time and was feeling good. Plus it is hard to get yourself to stop running when you’re watching Beyonce look amazing on the TV in front of you.

Seriously, the "Crazy in Love" music video was playing.

Needless to say I am pretty tired and very spacey today. I'm not complaining since it was 100% my choice to get up two hours before sunrise to run almost a half marathon, but the outlook for me finishing today without drifting asleep at least once is not great. The good news is tomorrow is my wonderful, glorious REST day where I do no physical exercise -- that is unless you count eating carbs like it's my job in preparation for Saturday's run. 

As for my non-running life (yes I do occasionally stop talking about running), Wednesday night = taco night in the Renda household for as long as I can remember. When I first told my sister this she reminded me on Kate's freak out on LOST about taco night. Luckily neither Ben nor I have a vendetta against nights fully dedicated to tacos. Poor Kate does though:

We also spent part of our night at the DI (thrift store) looking for a trophy for Ben's fantasy football league. He won the league last year and is having the "draft" for this years at our apartment on Saturday night. I don't want to spoil what it is for those who may be coming/participating this year, but it is a worthy award.