I'm just about a month into Dopey training and I think I'm starting to get into a groove. Unfortunately, it's a slow groove - like a 33 record when I want to run like a 45 (I totally had to look up those numbers - I'm too young to know about record playing speeds!). But it's a groove nonetheless and I'm thankful for it. So here's what's going on with training.
More miles, same speed. I have been adding miles fairly regularly. I'm now up to 4 1/2 miles for mid-week runs and I have an 8 mile "long" run planned for this weekend. I've noticed something about myself in regards to mileage. I can seemingly add mile after mile to my runs and yet my pace stays pretty much the same. I don't get any faster when I do shorter distances. So 6 miles or 16 - I'm pretty much at the same pace. I know a lot of this is due to the fact I refuse to do speed work, but still.
Rolling, rolling, rolling....Most people probably think running is what takes the most time when you're training for a race like this. I think it's all the stuff you have to do BECAUSE of the running. I talked about the laundry already (seriously - it never ends!) but the other thing taking a lot of my time is foam rolling. My muscles, especially in my calves, get really tight when I'm doing all the this running so I have to roll at least twice a day. It's gotten to the point that I have to multi-task in order to get stuff done.
Physical therapy I've been in PT since the beginning of training because I was coming off a hip injury. I just recently graduated from 2x/week to once a week. Progress! I've improved in a lot of ways but some things never change. During my time in PT, I've gone from not being able run at all to doing 7 miles, but I'm still only at 20 seconds for planks. Planking is my kryptonite. I'm seriously thinking my demise might be death by planking.
Early mornings suck. I am not a morning person. If you're reading this and you know me personally, this is not a surprise. But having working several evenings a week, paired with the hot and humid conditions lately, I've had to give in to the early morning workout. The picture below (me in the middle) shows how happy I am about that...
I will admit that getting my workout done early makes for a pleasant rest of the day. But getting up while it's still dark outside is not cool. My body is confused about why I'm asking it to things when clearly it's still the middle of the night. Luckily, I have people to run with from time to time, like my neighbor Lauri. Lauri is a morning person (I know, right? But I like her anyway.) and she's always more than willing to wake up at oh-hell-no-o'clock to run or bike or swim. Many times getting up to work out with her looks something like this:
Sleep....and the lack thereof. So early morning workout have become a necessity. Ugh. But I've been surprisingly effective at getting this done in recent weeks. That leads me to the sleep situation. I'm not getting enough of it. I have gradually worked my way to getting to sleep earlier at night. This was made possible by both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert leaving their respective late night shows. I'm going to try to keep this up, but Colbert is coming back to the late night airwaves next week so....
Fails. I've had a few of these. A particularly nasty run during which I got suddenly sick after mile 2 and was a mile from the nearest unlocked restroom comes to mind, but we won't discuss that further. The other thing I've been particularly bad about is my hydration. I'm not a big water drinker. I know, I know. With the extra running, and accompanying profuse sweating, I know I need to take in more water. I have replaced my shower beers with shower nuuns so that's something. The electrolyte replacement drink is a good start but I know I need more good ole' H2O.
I'm 1 month in and have 4 more months to go. I can do this! I think....
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