Training Plans

Grandma's marathon is sneaking up and I've decided that it's time for me to figure out my training plan. My search for a training plan has become something I refer to in my day job as "analysis paralysis." I've read too many plans and can't make a decision on the one that I want to use. I often find myself wishing I could combine the components of a few of them and blend them together, except that it's easy part of each schedule :) I once read a quote where someone referred to the marathon as a 26.2 mile victory lap for all of the hours and hours of training you put in, in preparation for that event. I really agree with that statement, and think that's why I don't think I've truly completed a marathon. I did the victory lap, but I didn't put in the hours.

The training program is much much harder then the actual marathon. You have company on the race course, you don't have to miss a family activity or time with your kids for the race, but to train you do. You don't have to race in the dark and that's the main theme in training. You certainly don't have to race on a treadmill....but again that's familiar territory in training. Most importantly you have to make tough decisions to prioritize training ahead of most other things.

The things I want in a program......I want to find a plan with balance. I love running, but I like to do other things too. I see myself eventually doing more multisport activities once I'm physically fit. I want a training program that pushes me and makes me better, "no pain no gain" right? Yet, I want a forgiving training program that doesn't leave me discouraged if I choose my family over my Saturday long run and postpone it to Sunday. I'm also scared of the dark, so I'd prefer a training program that dosen't have me running for hours on end in the wee hours of the am or pm.

After my searching I've decided to start with Jeff Galloway, largely because his program has already started. I think it'll be great going through the holidays with a training plan. However, the early weeks of his plan are TOO easy. It's nice exceeding my goals each workout, but I want to push myself too. I lose interest in jeff's plan towards the end when he tells you to EXCEED the marathon distance during training.... Nope not interested. So right now my plan is to use Jeff's plan until mid-Feb and then switch... To what? I don't know yet. I'll keep you posted..... Any suggestions are welcome.


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Running shoes.....

Well to say I love shoes is an under statement....I REALLY love shoes. So it's inevitable that one of my posts be devoted to shoes. I've also learned to respect a good running shoe. The first time I tried to train for Grandma's I was running in a stability shoe and it turned out to be too much correction or one of my feet, the stress on the side of my foot turned into a stress fracture during my 18 mile training run (one of my last long runs during the marathon training program). Now that I'm into the groove and getting a solid base of miles in each week I've been noticing foot pain again. This time the other foot and in my arch. So once again I decided it was time to go on the search for the perfect running shoe. After a couple of "trial pair" and a few returns to the store I think I've finally found them! I've always insisted that color isn't a factor and I'll buy what's comfortable..... This time that strategy has really lead me down a wild path!! Here's the new shoes:



So if you're ever trying to spot me in a race... Just look for my feet!

I also had to share my early Xmas present from Marty, a new pair of Nike Doernbecher project shoes. This is the 3rd year I've gotten a pair from this line and I'm completely in love with them and what they are about. Nike gives a few kids a chance to design their own shoes that are sold in this collection each year and 100% of the proceeds go back to the children's hospital. So here's my shoes that were designed by 16 year old Claire:



Yes, the swoosh sign is supposed to be fuzzy cowhide :)

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Motivators...

Days like this make it hard to get up and workout (this was taken this morning)…. especially when I was hoping to get outside:

I love the way I feel after a workout, but often I forget how important that feeling is when I'm trying to get up in the morning or when I'm facing a long run on the treadmill. I've resorted to a few tricks to try and get me out of bed in the morning-- no laughing at them! As I review them some seem a little ridiculous...

1. Reading the book "Run Like a Mother" before bed.... I love the authors of this book and their contributors! Now I've moved onto the book Sole Sisters, hopefully it's just as motivating.

2. Placing my Monster 1/2 marathon finisher medal on my nightstand (I need to move it to hit "snooze")

3. My alarm clock is set 20 minutes ahead... I know this and I always do the math but the later number makes me feel better when I get up.

4. Keeping my Monster 1/2 marathon timing chip on my shoe (it's just a small reminder of how far I've come and the condition I want to stay in)

5. Planning or thinking about our dinner menu when I get out of bed. Usually dinner is my most caloric meal, and in order to be able to eat those I need to find a way to offset them.

6. Continuously updating on my running playlists... and I don't allow myself to listen to my running playlists when I'm at work.... only running!

7. Allowing myself to watch certain programs only on our TV in the basement (only way you can watch is when on a treadmill, bike or elliptical). The biggest loser is my favorite, but I'm also starting the show Brother's and Sisters. The key for me is moving past a 1/2 hour show.

8. Today for my long run on the treadmill I watched TV with subtitles while wearing my ipod.. I was able to hit 7 miles, the storyline and motivating music made it actually pretty enjoyable.

9. Workout gear. I've purchased a few items that I love to wear, are comfortable and are very user friendly for working out. I found that when I didn't like my shorts because they bunched, or my running shoes weren't comfortable, etc. it really seemed to have an effect on my workout, so I decided when I started running again to make the investment and buy a couple of key pieces.

10. Garmin Connect. This is a site that collects the data from my Garmin and keeps me honest. It tells me my heart rate, time and distance on every outdoor run and my time and heart for indoor runs. I analyzing love data, so it's not a surprise that it's really exciting for me to go back and see how far I've come based on my Garmin data.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

I recently found this story on another runner's blog and it really struck a chord with me...

During the 1930s, a young boy had become obsessed with eating sugar. His mother decided to travel take him to Gandhi who was highly revered across the country - perhaps his instruction could convince her son to cut back on sugar.
“My son has horrible eating habits,” she said. “Please, he will listen to you if you tell him to stop eating foods with so much sugar.”
Gandhi listened sympathetically. “I ask that you come back next week and make the request again.”
The mother agreed and returned seven days later. “My son’s problem continues,” she said. “I am greatly concerned about his health. He rarely eats vegetables or fruits. Please, won’t you talk to him about the danger of eating too much sugar.”
“Please, come back and see me in a week,” he said simply.
Though the mother was disappointed, she left and returned one week later. Once again she made her pleas. This time he agreed to talk with her son.
When the conversation was completed, the mother thanked Gandhi. “I am grateful that you took the time to talk to my son, but I don’t understand why it took three requests for you to do so.”
He looked at the woman and said, “I didn’t realize how hard it would be for me to give up sugar.”

One of Gandhi's most famous quotations is
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

This story really motivates me to get outside each day-- I want Soren and Kaia to grow up in a home where healthy food and an active lifestyle are the norm.

Check, Monster Dash complete! I had a great day yesterday finishing in 2:30:58 with a pace of 11:25 per mile. To give you a perspective of this pace in August when I ran a 5K my pace was 11:39 and a heart rate of 177. So yesterday I was able to cut 14 seconds per mile off of my 5k time and took my heart rate average down from 177 to 163. Yesterday I also hit 10 miles at 1:54, which is 6 minutes faster then I did the TC10 mile a few weeks ago!

I'm also really excited because my mom came down from Brainerd to participate in the Monster Dash 5k. Her race started a couple of hours after mine so I was able to see her sprint to the finish line, it was pretty cool seeing her run out there. Running has been a great activity for us to plan our time together around. This summer we did the 5k together and now this race was our 2nd one together, now we're talking about doing the Turkey Trot before our thanksgiving meal! I'm really learning that the more the merrier with this type of thing…. I love being active with my family!

Why does Grandma's Marathon freak me out?

I said that I’d elaborate on why I’m nervous about Grandma’s Marathon so here I go:

1. It’s GRANDMA’S marathon, the one that I’ve trained for 2 other times and failed. In 2004 I went out for my 17 mile training run with Marty and found myself unable to finish because of foot pain that I couldn’t push through. It turned out to be a stress fracture and I couldn’t continue with my training. The next year I tried again and stopped training pretty early on because I got busy, fell off of my training schedule and got discouraged. I ended up doing the marathon, but it wasn’t pretty. No running for two months followed by a marathon= extreme pain and a 6 hour and 22 minute adventure that I vowed to NEVER repeat
2. The last time I did the marathon I stopped running for 5 years. After the marathon I felt like I deserved some “time off.” I wasn’t able to pick running back up again because I always felt anxiety over the time commitment.
3. Figuring out when to fit in my training runs. I’m scared to run in the dark by myself.

Enough with the excuses here are the reasons why I think I should forget everything above:
1. I love the feeling after a long run; it really is a “runners high.” Nothing beats the feeling of walking around on “runned” legs during the day.
2. I want to be a role model for our kids
3. I want to join Marty in an active lifestyle instead of always cheering him on (although, I do LOVE cheering for him).
4. I want to lose a few pounds and get back to ideal weight—running allows me a treat every once in a while that I wouldn’t get without the miles.
5. I love the feeling of being fit enough to go for a casual 10 mile run for stress relief.
6. I really like shopping for workout clothes (yes, Marty I really am listing this one). If I run I’ll need clothing so this is a good way to justify :)

What I’ve already learned about myself:
1. I love training schedules and they motivate me however I can’t use them as a crutch. This time around I need to accept that I can’t always follow the training schedule and I need to be flexible. In the past any deviation in my training schedule has discouraged me so much that I’ve stopped training. I’ve proven that I can do this without training, so any training during the last 2 months will be better than my 6:22 marathon.
2. I’m not used to the quiet time with myself. For the last 5 years I have been with someone all of the time: if I’m at home I’m with kids, in the car I call someone on the phone, at work I’m managing people. Basically I never take time to reflect and running gives me this outlet. It’s actually been a little scary; I don’t know what to talk to myself about….

I’m sure there’s more, but this has been the conversation in my head while running for the past week….

Why a Blog?

Frankly, I'm not sure. I hate to write and I can't keep up with our family blogspot (and I really only show pictures on that one), yet I feel like this is really important at this time in my (our) life. This is not meant to be a place where I brag about my latest long run, or seek admiration/compliments on how busy we are and how we cope. Well, maybe once in a while I'll solicit compliments, but that's not my goal :) Instead this is a place where I'm going to try and make sense of it all and motivate myself. I want this to be a long term commitment for me, and not another 1 year phase. My hope is that this blog is the first public step in that direction.

We do have a busy life, but everyone else does too. Yes, juggling 2 young children, a very challegning career, a ironman husband and trying to run myself isn't easy. But I've decided I can't hide from that anymore. It's not easy, but it's also not impossible. I can run at 5:30 AM and still have a life, I can miss 2 hours of family time on Saturday mornings and my husband and kids will still love me. I recently picked up the book "Run Like a Mother" it tackles many of these same issues-- I'm sure I'll be quoting this book from time to time.

How far I've come already: In July I couldn't run a mile, and when I tried my heart rate hit the mid-180's. Marty had the kids behind me in the stroller and it took every bone in my body to not cry because it was so hard. But I didn't want them to see me struggle so I continued on and completed my 2 miles. At the beginning of October I had lost 25 pound and completed the TC10 mile in 1:59:18. My first goal was to finish and my "pie in the sky" goal was to complete the race in under 2 hours. More importantly my heart rate averaged 159, this was much better than the 180's I experienced during my 1st run. I've now lost 32 pounds and this weekend I'll be attempting the monster dash 1/2 marathon.

One last thing to note: Yes, I signed up for Grandma's Marathon in June 2011. I've been hesitant to tell people for fear I won't be able to complete it and they'll know that I've failed. So again today I'm saying it out loud-- I've commited my $85 to doing it and now I'll also commit my time and my body to this challenge. I've got a lot of fears associated with this marathon, but I'll ellaborate on those in another post. For now, all I need to focus on is that I'm FULLY committed.