A Runner’s Balancing Act

This morning’s run didn’t go as planned. Ever since Tuesday afternoon my stomach has been bothering me and I’ve been a light-headed and unusually tired. It was still bothering me this morning when I hopped on the treadmill at the gym for this weeks FIRST interval workout. I had planned to warm up for a mile and do three one mile repeats at 7.7 mph, with one minute breaks in between. Unfortunately after the first half mile at that pace, I was not feeling very well at all. I thought I might lose my cookies or pass out so I cut off the interval at .75 miles. Then I walked for a quarter mile. At that point, I just figured I would just do what I could do. I ended up doing another 2 intervals of .75 miles at a 7.7 pace with quarter mile walks in between. I finished up with a mile at 6.6 to round out the workout at 5 miles.

Boy was I ever ready to get off that treadmill by the end of those 5 miles.  I hope that I never get sick like this before a marathon. It would be pure torture to try to do 26 miles in that state.

I woke up so easily this morning! I thought for sure it would be a good run because that never happens. I probably woke up easy because the stomach issues were keeping me from going into a deep sleep. I ate my usual cliff bar, pre-run breakfast, but it left me feeling unusually queasy and heavy.

I’m kind of thinking that those Clif Bars might be a little much for a pre-run breakfast, but I can’t figure out what else to eat. I need something portable because when I am running in the morning with TNT, I usually eat in the car on the way to the run (it’s a 45 min drive).  I used to like oatmeal, but that is not portable, AND its not appetizing to me when its hot out. Anyone have any suggestions?? I need something fairly dense. I’m not one of those people that can have a half a banana before a long morning run.

I’m still feeling pretty crappy this afternoon. I was hungry for lunch but now I’m queasy again and my lunch was fairly light. Also developing a nice headache. Hopefully I will get over this by Saturday. I don’t think I will make it 12 miles in this state.

What do you guys eat before long/medium runs first thing in the morning? I’m curious.

Had an awesome run Tuesday morning with my running buddy Malinda. We did the 7.5 mile hilly run around town (which turned out to be about 8.5 after the mile jog to meet up with her) and I felt great. How I hope that the humidity stays away, it was so nice. The run went so fast and I was wishing it wasn’t over by the time I finished! If I hadn’t had to go to work I might have done a few more miles.

We lost our volleyball game last night, which knocked us out of the single elimination tournament. We were pretty bummed. The first game was pretty comical because our setter did not show up and I stupidly had never programmed her number into my phone.  None of us are good setters and so we hastily nominated one of our best hitters as setter (now that was smart), then we got all confused trying to figure out our rotations with only five players. It was pretty funny. Our setter finally showed up mid game, but we weren’t able to come back from the deficit.  We held our own the second game, but couldn’t come out with the win.

By the way we are looking for a new setter since our current one is moving. Michelle, I sure wish you were here! If anyone knows someone in the Phoenix area who has experience, please let me know. 

I was watching the game before ours last night and there was this girl who was probably about my height (5’6) but a much better hitter then me. She had a really good jump, but I’m guessing mine is just as good – if not, close. The difference between her and me is arm strength. She could just pound that thing, and my swing is a bit more… wimpy.  I used to be pretty diligent about doing arm exercises, and I’m thinking I want to get back to that over the next month. Maybe I’ll actually stick with it if the goal is performance, not looking buff (would be nice, but it just doesn’t motivate me).

So now I have a whole month off from volleyball. It’s good timing because I’m having trouble balancing my workouts right now and one less commitment is probably good. Tomorrow is a FIRST speed workout on the treadmill. Then possibly Friday morning I will do the tempo run. We shall see. Don’t like to make the long run on Saturday the third consecutive run, but since we’re only doing 12 miles again (the TNT long run schedule is VERY gradual), it might be good to force myself to do it on tired legs.  Running on tired legs is how you get through a marathon after all. 

Happy running!

Its Late July, and smack in the middle of the Monsoon season and  what do you know, I’ve been given a little Christmas in July gift by mother nature. As the weather man calls it it’s a “drying trend”. That means no storms this week and the humidity is back down to around 12%. Yipeee!!!  Right now its 4:35 am and I’m waiting for my coffee and cliff bar to digest. Just checked the temperature and ONLY 80 DEGREES and 12% humidity! Gosh its practically winter out there. Maybe I should break out the running tights! Okay, okay, just kidding.

Last week the drying trend started without my knowledge and I thought I was finally adapting to the heat. I had great outdoor runs on Thursday (7.5 mi) and Saturday (10.5 mi) and even snuck in my first real “tempo” run on Sunday afternoon at the gym.  Up until last week, all my scheduled FIRST tempo runs were at marathon pace or similar, so I counted my weekly outdoor runs with my running buddy Malinda  as Tempos. I’m thinking I need more weekly miles, so this week I am doing both the FIRST tempo run on the treadmill and an extra recovery run with Malinda, along with the interval workout, also on the treadmill.

I’m so proud of myself for getting in the tempo run Sunday afternoon. We had a “step back” week for out TNT run Saturday. Meaning, after we built up to almost 14 miles the weekend before last, this week, we gave our bodies a break and only did 10.  Its funny how 10 miles can seem like a break after you’ve done 14.  So Sunday afternoon rolled around and I wasn’t too sore so I decided to hit the treadmill. I did the FIRST tempo run exactly. Warm up at 10 min/mi for a mile, then run 4 miles at 8:35 (7.0 mph) and cool down for a mile at about a 9 min mile. I was very excited to find out that I could actually sustain 4 consecutive miles at a 8:35 pace. I have run races faster then that, but something about doing it on a treadmill seemed impossible.

Yesterday was an interesting day for me. Malinda teaches a class at a local community college about healthy living. She asked me if I would come in and share about eating disorders since I have some personal experience with one. I was glad to be able to help out and use my experience to educate others. Its been over five years now and to be honest I don’t like to relive that story very often but I think it was worth it if some good can come from my mistakes. It made for a draining day yesterday, and I’m happy to report that remembering that horror, makes me more intensely aware that I could never go back. I’m just too happy now. I have a wonderful husband, a good job, and I would never want to mess all that up. 

I’m off for my run! Happy Tuesday!