Thursday, December 30, 2010

Swimming

A bit over a month ago, after repeated attempts by a friend to get me to try swimming, I finally ran out of excuses and went swimming for the first time in a long, long time.  As I knew I would, but for unknown reasons didn’t want to admit, I really enjoyed it and since that first “lesson” back in November I’ve been back to the pool a few more times.

I’m still learning about proper technique for my stroke and breathing and kicking…and about a million other things that it seems like I have to remember while swimming…but I am looking forward to improving and getting more efficient. 

This morning I went to the pool by myself for the first time.  As I slipped in to the slightly cool water, I had to smile to myself:  I just couldn’t believe I was at the pool, preparing to swim laps at 5:45 in the morning.  My friend was right, as soon as I started swimming; I ended up loving it and look forward to going back each week.  Why did I resist this for so long?

I still don’t have a clue what I am doing and am rather intimidated / impressed by the other swimmers who seem to be able to swim lap after lap without pause.  Meanwhile, I am please with myself whenever I can string together two or three laps without (much of) a pause at the wall.  One day, I tell myself, one day that will be me. 

With various pauses and rests thrown in, I swam 36 laps this morning for a total of 900 meters.  Most sprint triathlons have a swim distance of 700 or so meters so I am rather encouraged by my swimming abilities this early in my learning. 

Yes, I’ll finally admit it, my interest is slightly intrigued by triathlons and one of my goals for 2011 is to complete my first triathlon.  New year, here I come!

Daily Dozen:
Swimming, 36 laps
Run to and from pool, less than 2 miles

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A good run, a realization and a new goal

This is my fourth attempt at following a marathon plan with specific types of runs – tempo, marathon pace, intervals, etc.  Once again, I have discovered that this type of training just isn’t for me. 

I get discouraged when I can’t hit the paces I am supposed to hit and always end up injured.  However, for my first marathon, I followed a plan that simply had me running miles and it is the only training plan that I have been able to feel successful at following.  I knew what to run that day and I just did it without much further thought.  Plan says 5, run 5.  Plans says 16, run 16. Just get the miles done. 

And I was able to get the miles done.  And, it was actually a confidence builder to succeed at the plan.  Lately, I just seem frustrated at myself for not being able to improve and succeed at specific speedwork. 

I want to get back to that feeling I had during my first round of marathon training:  the feeling of pride and wonder as I discovered each week what new mileage milestones my body was capable of hitting.  I want to go back to a time when I didn’t think twice about race pace or worry about running the race faster than last time. 

My new goal for Charleston is to run a strong race.  What strong means will depend on the day.  I want to have fun out there.  I don’t want to run a strong race and then feel down about it because it doesn’t meet the time expectation I foolishly set for myself.  If I run a sub-4 hour marathon, great.  If I PR, wonderful.  If I run my strongest race and it is 30 minutes slower than I planned, I want that to be fine as well. 

Today, rather than run the prescribed speedwork – 2 x 4 miles at MP, with .5 recovery – I went out for a long pre-work run listening to an All Songs Considered podcast.  I decided to run faster whenever there was a song playing and then slow it down when there was talking.  The pressure of hitting a specific pace on a cold, windy morning (and being disappointed and so frustrated in myself that I quit running) wasn’t part of my run.  I ran the “fast” pace that felt good and have no idea what that means in numbers. 

I ended the run with a smile on my face, feeling confident and strong.  Boy, that sure felt good, I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow. 

Daily Dozen
9.5 miles
XT in gym @ lunch hour

Friday, December 17, 2010

Snow Run

Yesterday it snowed for much of the day and the snow stuck around overnight. The first half of my run to work is on bike paths, which do not get plowed or cleared (not that I am complaining) so I was crunching over new snow patches, following bike treads and the tracks of other runners, and trudging uphill using short, choppy steps because the snow made running more like trail running on sand. It definitely got my heart rate up and gave me a good workout.

One of my favorite things about running in the snow is that things just look prettier after a snow fall. I took these two photos on the run in to work (excuse the blurriness and low quality – running and taking pictures with my phone is not one of my strengths):

Here’s a pink sunrise seen through the clouds.

Seen on the run 12-17-10

I took this photo while I was running over the Roosevelt Bridge into DC. This shot doesn’t do the view of the iced-over Potomac with Georgetown and the bridges in the background justice.

Seen on the run 12-17-10

While running, really it felt more like slogging by the end, on the snowy bike path was a fun challenge, it made running on the sidewalks in DC feel even better. Once I hit the flat, snow-free sidewalks I instantly sped up and running felt nearly effortless.

Daily Dozen:
6.5 miles run to work

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A Running and Writing Funk

It was a month ago that I ran the Veteran’s Day 10K and I have been in a bit of funk ever since. Deciding to run home from the race proved to be a bad idea and I didn’t recover from that weekend very well. My paces have been off (think 11:30 to 12:30 pace…that’s slower than when I started running four years ago) and I just haven’t been excited about running.

Perhaps the most important factor of this running funk is that my confidence has reached a low point. What am I doing? Why do I care if I can run a marathon, let alone, in under 4 hours? What’s the point of running if I am going to feel like this?

Let me be clear: it wasn’t the slower paces, necessarily. I was putting all my effort in to faster paces – paces that felt as fast as the ones I had been hitting (somewhere in the mid- to low 9 minute mile range) and then I look at my watch and see 10:55. I was frustrated that I knew I had been running faster paces and that the effort didn’t seem to be paying off. Why push so hard for something that was nearly two minutes slower than I was capable of a month ago?

Anyway, I missed some runs. I got discouraged mid-run a few times and just stopped, opting to walk home and grumble than finish a run that felt horrible. But, that would only frustrate me further. Something needed to change.

I started to ignore the speed workouts and just go out for miles. I told myself it didn’t matter how fast or slow I was as long as I was out there getting the miles, everything would be OK. I even turned off the mile split feature on my Garmin. If I’m working hard and I feel like I am putting in a solid effort, I didn’t want to get discouraged if my actual pace didn’t match my perceived effort. In fact, I didn’t want to know until the run was over.

These things have worked. I’m feeling, and more importantly, running much better. My 16 miler over the weekend went well and the 20 miler the weekend before was also a solid effort.

The real take home lesson for me is that structured speedwork just isn’t for me. Tempo runs done by feel (run “comfortably hard”) and fartlek runs (run every time a song is one during the All Songs Considered podcast) work better than specific interval sessions (run 1 mile at marathon goal pace three times with half mile recovery). Not hitting the paces that I think I am supposed to be hitting just frustrates me.

Not to get too mushy but running is supposed to make me feel good about myself not make me beat myself up for not meeting expectations.



Daily Dozen:
XT @ lunch
Related Posts with Thumbnails