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 :-).