Making Lemonade?

All I can think of is the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". That's how I feel about turning today's 20 mile run into a 4 hour walk.

After Tuesday's success I was feeling good leading up to this morning's run. I slept fairly well. Not great but better than I have been and I did not feel tired when I got out of bed at 5:15 a.m. I dressed, ate something and drove over to Pawlings Road to park my car. I was taking off at about 6:25 a.m.

I decided to head 2 miles out and back along Pawlings Rd/Audubon Loop and then go down Pawlings road the other direction to pick up the back end of the River Trail. I felt great until I tried to run. About half a mile in and I was breathing way too hard. I tried slowing down but nothing worked. I walked - got my breath back - and tried to run again. Same thing. I tried for about 2 miles and the same thing kept happening. I even tried using shorter intervals with the gymboss. It didn't help. I kept walking and pouted for the next 5 minutes or so. I contemplated going online and trying to give my marathon bib away. Fortunately I kept walking and saner thoughts prevailed and I resolved to walk for the same time it would have probably taken me to run 20 miles - 4 hours.

I manageed to get to the restrooms at Betzwood at 8 am to meet the group gathering there. I told John T and Caroline B that I would not be running with them afterall and instead headed out to walk with Mary. We did about 4 miles together. It was nice to catch up with and spend time with her. It was a gorgeous day for a walk today. The gang humored me for a shadow picture before we went out.

After leaving Mary at her car I headed out on the River Trail toward Pawlings Rd. I cut off the trail after the 1 mile marker and ended up on the SRT. I followed that up to the parking lot where my car was. I dropped off my gloves and emptied my pockets and headed back out. I decided to explore the PAwlings Road farm. I havent' been over that way for a long time. I explored the farm grounds and the trails between it and the River Trail ending back on the River trail. I kind of made a circle and came back to the car again. In total I walked about 15 miles. Here is the record of 12.75 of it. I had operator issues in the first 2.5. I tried running again after I left Mary. I managed to go a little longer this time but still did not feel good. It felt like I couldn't get enough air.

The downsides to today -

• I didn't do my 20 mile run.
• I almost let that make me give up my marathon
• The breathing issues were scary and frustrating

The upsides to today -

• I walked about 15 miles in 4 hours
• My legs feel like they did that but I don't feel beat up
• I spent quality walking time with a fitness buddy - Mary
• I met two new fitness buddies - Wendy and Sandra
• I got to chat briefly with my favorite stalker - David - who's been out since the Philly marathon with knee issues.

My fear is that I gave up on the running too easy. I really don't think so but I find myself second guessing it anyway. I need a nap. I'll feel better after that.

Here are some photos from my tour of the PAwlings Farm.

The house

The Barn

Beautiful Tree

8 Miles; 98 minutes 14 seconds

So I went over my planned time limit by 2 minutes and 14 seconds. Here's the thing. At 96 minutes I was 2 tenths shy of 8 miles. What would YOU do? Yeah, I thought so. :)

All in all considering that this is my first run in 17 days it went pretty well. As 4 pm approached today I did have some thoughts of "OH boy I gotta do this" but I never thought not to do it. I went to the Chester Valley Trail which is only a mile or so from where I work. I could have reached out to the group for company but decided it was better to go it alone tonight since I had no idea how it would go.

I tried hard to conentrate on going slow in the beginnning. Keeping my breathing even. It felt really good to be running again and that made it difficult to stay even. In hindsight this would have been a good run for the heart rate monitor. I could have deduced an average easy run HR from my earlier runs and forced myself to slow down or walk when I went over that. I know I went too hard in the early miles as I always tend to do. I was good through the first three miles and then I had to take more frequent walk breaks.

Two mistakes right off where being over dressed and miscalculated hydration. The over dressed part was a tough call. It snowed yesterday and there was ice on my car this morning. And as it was on the second half of the run I was glad to have the extra layers because I felt chilled but that could have been due to the hydration issue.

I hate carrying anything in my hands while running. So I left my water bottle in the car and figured I'd go out 2 miles and back 2 miles and then take some water and do it again. I was feeling good on the way out and decided to see if I could get to three before turning around. Typically I can do 5 or 6 -especially in cooler weather- without needing water. I forgot to figure in this cold which is dehydrating me faster than usual. Brain cramp on my part.

I finished it though and I'm glad of that. I'm not sure about doing it again and then half again on Saturday so I just won't think about it that way. Time to go stretch, hydrate some more and rest.

Now What?

Between periods of sleeping, coughing and blowing my nose this weekend, I've been thinking a lot about "Now what?" I never made it to Saturday's run. There is no doubt that it was the right choice. I could barely manage the stairs without wiping out. Yet, the question of how to adjust my schedule plagued most of my waking moments over the weekend. With no where to go and Dave doing softball most of both Saturday and Sunday I had little to distract me from obsessing about fixing my marathon training. Thank goodness for Temple and Lasalle basketball on Sunday. That helped!

Congrats to both teams, by the way. Temple lost but really gave it a good show. Now it's everyone in Philly behind Lasalle! Go Big Five!

Back to marathon training. See? I've got a maddeningly one track mind until May 26th. I've decided to do as much of my original schedule as I can this week. I plan to go for time or planned miles whichever happens first. Tuesday's schedule calls for 8 miles. At an average 12 minute mile that's 96 minutes so I'll be out for 96 minutes running or walking OR 8 miles whichever comes first. Thursday's runs are always for time anyway and this week it's 30 minutes (instead of the usual 60 because of the planned long long run on Saturday). On Saturday, I'll go for 20 miles or 4 hours whichever comes first. Unless I completely fail at running on Saturday I'll simply pick up the schedule from there and keep going. I'm not sure what ratio of running and walking - or what mileage I achieve - will constitute fail on Saturday. It's going to be a 'how do I feel' thing after the day is done.

Just in case, so that I can concentrate on Saturday's activities and not obsess the whole time about what happens if..... I've also reworked my schedule. In the event that I don't feel accomplished after Saturday I reworked the 20+ milers so that I'll do 20 on 4/6 and 22 on 4/13 and stick to the original schedule after that. If it comes to that then the weekdays in between 4/6 and 4/13 will be minimal running so that I can recover. It won't be easy to do two long Saturdays in a row like that but I don't think it's impossible either especially if I'm careful during the week.

I also removed my week off in May. I will not be running that weekend because I'll be out of town on Thursday eveneing through Saturday evening but I put some of the weekday workouts back in. I don't want to take a chance with getting sick again and missing two weeks of workouts.

Gotta be flexible and I have to keep believing. I still go to bed every night imagining myself running the marathon and crossing the finish line.

Being Sick is Harder Than Training

When I came here to write this I was greeted with  Sunday's post. I laughed because I have not taken one training step since I wrote that.

 

The cold probably started over the weekend as I remember being very tired but too busy to take stock of what was happening. By Monday evening the cold made its presence known and it’s been a nuisance ever since. It ebbs and flows and today I have a cough. My thoughts over the past few days have see-sawed back and forth between “No big deal. Just get better and get back to running as soon as you can” to “Maybe I should adjust my training and skip the extra 20+ mile runs”. This second thought sends me spiraling into a mood of despair and anxiety.

I’ve done a Google search of every combination of phrases revolving around ‘missed training’ in an attempt to feel better about being sidelined 9 weeks before the race and two weeks before my first 20 mile run. If you are an athlete of any kind, you know you’ve done this (or will) so stop smirking. :) Fortunately, my energy levels are low so my time for searching is limited since I’ve been in bed by 8 or 9 pm every day this week and mostly asleep on the couch before that. My imagination has been helping a lot. I can still see myself running smooth and crossing the finish line in May.

The truth is there ARE 9 weeks until the marathon. If March 23^rd were my race day, I’d be tapering now anyway. I wouldn’t be doing nothing that’s true but I would be bringing things down a big notch. And truth be told if I were sick this close to race day I WOULD be doing nothing. I’d have no choice but to have faith in the training thus far and do the best I could on race day. So on Saturday I’ll tackle 15 miles the best way I can. Take it slow and if I have to walk more than I run well that’s just the way it is and perfectly ok. Despite my roots I keep forgetting that. I'll feel a whole lot better when Saturday afternoon is here and I've finished those miles- one way or the other. For now, please pass the Kleenex and my pillow.

Am I Ready for This?

Tomorrow starts the section of my training that will find me running 20, 22 and 24 miles before taking another break the week of April 29th. I have yet to be satisfied with a 20 mile training run and I've never run a 22 or 24 as part of marathon training. Obviously, I've completed those distances in my four previous marathons but only as part of the race not in training.

I'm at the point now where I have to have faith in the training. It hasn't been perfect. I've missed some days. I'm proud that I've completed more days than not and finished some that I might have skipped in previous training cycles. I feel better before, during and after most workouts than I've every felt in any other training cycle. I've said it before and I'll say it again now I think the two keys are a) No excuses and b) the variety in the schedule.

Today I saw this on the wall of a new FB friend Carolyn G. I asked her to send it to me and she did.

What perfect timing. I think the words are true for training and also in life. They go well with Keep Smiling and Keep Moving, don't ya think?

So thank you Carolyn for sharing these words. Carolyn is going to do her FIRST full marathon in Chicago this year (October 13). You can follow her and support her progress on her FB page. Meemaw the Marathoner