Friday, February 26, 2010

Can Do.

Can Do

Whenever I run to work in the mornings (braving the cold and windy elements this morning, I’ll add) I make it a point to run by as many of the memorials and monuments that DC has to offer. My more usual, pre-work early morning runs and my long run on the weekends rarely take me by these historical spots so getting to run by them one day a week as I commute to work is motivating.

Some of the notable sites I run by are the Marine Memorial (aka the Iwo Jima Memorial), Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, the National Mall and the museums that partly make up the Smithsonian, and the US Capital Building. I still get a little giddy when I come around a turn and the Washington Monument or the Capital Building pops in to view.

However, this morning, there was one particular memorial that made me start to think – the Seabees statue at Arlington National Cemetery

Seabees - Arlington National Cemetary

I’ve run by this statue dozens of times but this morning I made note of the large inscription: Seabees – Can Do (as I learned from Wikipedia, it is one the Seabees most commonly used but informal mottos). Two things struck me as I paused to take a picture: 1) the upper body muscles of the statue are totally disproportionate and 2) what a wonderfully simple but completely to the point phrase. Not questioning or hesitant – might do? Not even declarative or forceful – will do! Rather a simple statement of will and intent. Can do.

I think I’ve let myself get away from the “Just Run” motto and that’s why I ended up injured (too concerned with pace and speed) and why it took me so long to get back in to a groove (kinda being lazy). There were so many strings attached to running – pace, distance, training, racing, weekly mileage – I forgot to just run.

Run. Can do. Yeah, I like that.

Daily Dozen:
7.3 miles commute to work
Strength Training @ lunch hour

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Love-Hate

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with running these passed two weeks. I have been back in a groove in terms of consistency. For about a month now, I’ve only been able to run on and off due to injury recovery time, snow and a little bit of good ol’ fashioned laziness. However, I’m back to running nearly every day and mentally, I’m loving it.

And yet…

Although I am back to running consistently, I am struggling physically. My pace is much slower than it was back in January and I am really tired. Some times it is just fatigue in my legs and other times, I have little energy. Where have my speed and gumption gone? Did I really lose them that quickly? Ugh!

I tell myself that it’s OK; that I have permission to build back up slow and steady; that no matter what pace I am running, at least I am running. I tell myself these things over and over again and one of these days, I’ll even start believing it.

It is frustrating to feel like I have been set far back from where I was and have the date of the marathon fast approaching. I’ve revised my long run, I’ll still be able to get in some good 18 and 20 miles and I know I’ll be fine (maybe not running as close to a 4 hour marathon as I was hoping but fine nonetheless). Yet, there is a little voice inside me casting doubt and bumming me out when I am struggling to complete a run.

Let me clarify this last point. I haven’t been struggling due to an injury or pain but rather my legs just feel so leaden at times. I am getting a good amount of sleep most nights, I am eating as “healthy” as I normally do (are you going to begrudge me a cookie after coming in from a 2 hour run?) and I haven’t been doing anything out of the ordinary with cross-training or strength training. My paces have been much slower. I have no way of explaining why I am so tired during so many of my runs. Even more frustrating is that it seems to come and go; when I think I have finally warmed up and found a good rhythm my legs will suddenly fill with wet sand.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post or two, I have also been finding new routes through the surrounding neighborhoods because the bike paths that I normally run on have been impassable due to snow, ice and fallen trees.


A Tree Blocked Bike Path
Bike path
Another downed tree, less than 1/2 mile away
Bike path


The bamboo also got in to the blocking action
Bike path

When my runs are good, I find that this spirit of discovery and exploration provides a nice spring in my step. However, when I’m struggling to run because my legs are fatigued I find new routes to be exhausting mentally. I am constantly calculating distances in my head and the questions seem endless – when should I turn around, when should I turn down a side street, how far will this road take before I have to alter my route, where will this road lead – the whole time being painfully aware of the absolute shortest route back home and a premature to my run. I find myself constantly having to convince my legs not to take that route and every turn, every side street, every unexpected hill restarts the dialogue.

And yet…

I haven’t bailed on a run yet. That’s something to be proud of and today’s run actually felt much easier. I felt more like myself out there running in the cold, wet morning. It is good to be back (and fingers crossed that it lasts).

Daily Dozen:
6 miles @ early morning

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Skiing

This past weekend I went traveled up to Vermont to visit my parents and to do some skiing. It seemed a shame that my parents have lived up in New England for a handful of years now and I hadn’t once tried skiing up there.

My ski resume is incredibly short: I’ve been twice. The first time I tried it I wasn’t crazy about it (went with friends in college, didn’t take a lesson, spent most of the time falling down in order to stop). I’ll be honest; the first time I tried skiing I didn’t really understand why everyone seemed to enjoy it so much. The next time I tried skiing was last year and I really enjoyed myself (took a lesson and figured out how to stop without falling down). I even worked my way up to an Intermediate trail by the end of the day. Coming away from that second day of skiing, I made the decision that I would take advantage of my parents being up in Vermont and close to so much excellent skiing (so I’m told).

I made good on that decision last Friday as I headed to Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Richmond, VT with my mom and my husband as ski companions. We got to the resort first thing in the morning, decided to take a lesson, got our equipment and headed out to the mountain by 10 in the morning. I was a nice day, sunny, clear and no wind.

Our lesson lasted an hour and we learned about our skis, how to stop, how to turn and how to use both the towpath and the ski lift. Our instructor, Dick, was a nice guy and even told some awful/great jokes. We all seemed to catch on and after an hour of running up and down the bunny slope (aka the Mitey Myte) we braved one of the “Easier” trails, Sprig o’ Pine.

It quickly became apparent that the “easier” trails here in Vermont were more difficult than “easier” trails found in southern Pennsylvania, but I was able to making it down the mountain just fine (and for the most part under control). With a brief stop for lunch, we spent most of the day skiing on the Sprig o’ Pine trail and then for the last run, my mom convinced to trail a longer (but still “easier”) trail called the Snowflake Bentley. Even this trail was doable and proved to be quite the little adventure.

All in all, it was a good day for skiing and I loved getting out there and trying something new.

Playing catch up

So the leg injury coupled with the major snow / winter weather (and throw in a bit of laziness on my part) has severely hampered my running lately. I ran a few times last week; nothing over 5 miles and then I took off completely on a quick vacation up to Vermont. (However, I did get in some awesome skiing while up there. Yay! for trying new activities).

This week, however, I am back and ready to go. My leg is feeling better; it’s not quite 100% but it doesn’t seem to be suffering when I do run on it. I went out for a good 5 mile run on Monday and yesterday morning I did had an amazing 10 miler in the early morning hours.

One of the pluses to the piles of snow and lack of access to the bike path, that hasn’t been plowed because there are obviously higher priorities, not to mention the downed trees every quarter mile or so, anyway, one of the pluses is that it has forced me to seek new running routes. One thing I’ve discovered is how much fun it is to run through the side streets in the surrounding neighborhoods. As I mentioned, the bike path is a no-go and likely will be for some time, the main roads and sidewalks are still a mess and I feel very unsafe running in the road along such heavily trafficked routes so it was either the side streets or nothing.

With the snow piled high along the roads and most people still not quite dug out, there are much fewer cars on the road, which means I get to be queen of the roads for a while. Running through the silent, snow covered neighborhoods at 5 in the morning is just so peaceful and new. I’ve discovered some beautiful houses and views of DC I didn’t know existed so close to home. I’ve found some great hills and curvy, windy roads that don’t seem to fit so close to the city.

On Monday, I went out for a run a bit before 8 in the morning and it was nice to see people out shoveling the snow off their cars and sidewalks. People were friendly; saying hello or have a good day. On the bike path, I’m luck to get a nod from most runners/walkers/cyclists.

Tuesday, as I mentioned, was a predawn run and it was a beautiful – cold, crisp, clear – morning to be out for a long run. Ten miles is the longest I’ve run for nearly a month and while I was getting tired toward the end, it was reassuring to be able to run that distance. I know I haven’t completely ruined my training for the Country Music Marathon in April. I’ll have to work hard (and smart) in order to build up to the marathon distance without re-injuring myself but completely Tuesday’s run gave the confidence to try.

Daily Dozen:
Strength training and stretching in the morning
3.3 miles @ lunch hour on treadmill

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

On My Way Back

Ok – Yesterday’s post was just all-kinds of negative energy. Sorry about that! That isn’t normally who I am. Still, I was a bit apprehensive about this morning’s run. The last thing I wanted or needed was a repeat of the day before.

However, from the first step the anxiety melted away. My leg was somewhat tight was definitely better than it has been (yay!), the freshly fallen snow was fun and challenging rather than a tedious, and even though I was going at a much slower pace than normal (12 minute miles compared to 10:30 miles) I felt like I was in the groove.

It feels good to be on my way back.

Daily Dozen:
5.1 miles @ morning run, freshly fallen snow
XT and strength training @ lunch hour

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Two Runs - Two Different Outcomes

I had high hopes for this morning’s run: I’m finally back from a self-imposed (injury-imposed) weeklong break from running, yesterday’s running wasn’t terrible and I do enjoy running on snow. The run didn’t go that well but maybe I was expecting too much: I’m just coming back from an injury and haven’t run for a week, yesterday’s run wasn’t very reassuring and running on snow is hard and slow.

Yesterday was my first day back to running. I headed out in the pre-dawn darkness, packed snow and ice crunching underfoot and a lingering tightness in my left quad. I wanted to do a slow 5 miles to test out my leg but maybe that was too much? Despite some dull pain in my leg I kept running and by the end of the run, I was feeling good.

Also, cruising along on the snow was fun: everything seemed so quiet and calm with a thin snow layer. The moon was out and its light reflecting off the snow made the morning brighter than usual. Rather than the normal sound of my footfall, I crunched loudly, packing down snow and breaking up ice that had formed overnight. I felt like I was juggling the snow with my feet as I avoided the icy spots and jumped from packed snow spot to packed snow spot. It really was a tremendous amount of fun.

However, today was a different story. Juggling the snow was physically and mentally exhausting. My leg was stiff and actually hurt today. I was slipping and sliding and just didn’t want to be out there (as much as I really wished that I wanted to be there). Now, my leg is sore today and I’m not sure what to do: see how it goes tomorrow or start getting used to the fact that I need some more time off.

One bad run isn’t the be all, end all of my running but it sure isn’t helping right now.

Daily Dozen:
4 miles – slow but not really easy!
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