health – Page 2 – The Celiathlete

September 8, 2019

Project BQ – Marathon Training Week #11

dreams-hopes-poster-rhino-treadmill-unicorn Sometimes in training, you have to learn how to adapt. And sometimes that means that the runs might be harder. Sometimes it means that your hard pace looks slower on paper, but the effort is there. Sometimes it means that you have to do two days of speed work back-to-back in order to have a bit of a life outside of marathon training.

Guys, I don’t know how I ever fit in gym mornings and time with friends and all that prior to this training cycle. Because, honestly, I don’t feel like I have much casual, free, leisure time anymore. I train in the morning, I do personal training sessions two times a week, I go to work, I come home, I stretch and foam roll, and in between all of that…I survive by prepping and eating and just making sure I get plenty of rest so that this body can continue to power through the workouts, training, and eventually, another marathon.

I am tired. I have been living in a constant state of exhaustion for the past 2 years. And with this past year, a lot of focus being on prioritizing rest/sleep…I just run out of time. I knew heading into this week that things were going to get crazy. Why?

Because I had concert tickets to see Rob Thomas…on Wednesday night.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT! So, after a bit of debate, I decided the only thing I could do was rearrange my workouts. I thought all the concerts/shows I had tickets for came AFTER my cruise, but I was wrong. Rob Thomas slotted in ahead of it. In the middle of the week. Not going wasn’t an option. Fun fact: I met Rob Thomas back in 1998 when I lived in Birmingham, Alabama. And, it had been FOREVER since I’d made time to go to a concert on a “school night.” HA!

So, let’s dive in to the insanity of this week.

Monday: INSTRUCTIONS: BASE RUN – GOAL 7 MILES – EASY EFFORT – TRY NO WATCH AGAIN

The best part about this past Monday was that it was Labor Day! HOLIDAY! Do you know what this meant? I slept in. I ran in the daylight. I had been out at my friend’s house on Sunday night for a Labor Day cookout. I indulged in more than a few Gluten Free Vegan S’Mores. I had a good amount of food, and enjoyed my time hanging out with some of my favorite people. We left late and I crawled into bed without setting an alarm. I woke up at my usual time and made myself NOT get up at that point. I did get up to stretch and head out for a run in the early morning. It was sunny, and a little humid, and the easy, recovery run felt a bit harder than it should have. I think it was the extra sugar that night, but it was worth it. Campfire S’mores are the best. The run was nothing to write home about. I just sort of let myself cruise, but it was a struggle at times, especially near the end. After over 16 miles of pounding on concrete at marathon pace in the Parklands the day before, my legs were not loving the movement or miles at all. They felt tired. And that happens. I made sure to give them some good foam rolling time. I was planning on planting my booty on the couch and binge watching Mindhunter on Netflix all Monday, but one of my best friends was in the hospital for surgery and I went and bought her a gift and delivered it to her. I did manage some meal prep, 2 episodes of Mindhunter, and finished off the day watching Free Solo with dinner. It was a long, productive, and very condensed day. But, that’s holidays for you. The run was a total of 7 miles…nice and easy on very tired legs.

Tuesday: INSTRUCTIONS: TEMPO RUN – 1 MILE WU; 3X2 MILES AT TEMPO (7:20-7:50) W/ 0.5 MILES RECOVERY; 1 MILE CD

UGH! Speed work. Not just speed work, but a tempo workout. I don’t know why tempos stress me out, but they do. At least this one was with some recovery time and not hard pushes for consecutive miles. My legs still felt a bit flat, but I decided to just give it my best effort. I never once stopped. Even in the humidity and the warmer temps….I came close to nailing this workout. The first mile of the last tempo push was a 7:57 so, but I got back to 7:50 for the second mile. It was the end of the workout, so I’m not too mad at it. I’m a little mad at it, because I like to have a bit more perfection with the workouts, but it was what my legs had that day. I came close and I did it without burning out. That’s a win. I did my additional hip strengtheners with my stretches that morning as well. As for the run, that gave me 9.5 miles for a Tuesday morning.

Wednesday: SPEED WORK – MONA FARTLEKS W/ 1 MILE HARD EFFORT

Yes…you read that right. Two speed work days in a row. It was my only option with the Rob Thomas concert starting at 8 pm Wednesday night. I wasn’t going to have the time or energy to wake up at 3:30 am to fit them in per usual on Thursday morning. I figured I wouldn’t get home until after midnight (I was right), so adjustments had to be made. I moved my short, recovery run to Thursday and Thursday’s speed session to Wednesday. At least it was my favorite – Mona Fartleks. They work like this: 2 mile warm up, 2×90 sec, 4 x 60 sec, 4×30 sec, 4×15 sec (with equal recovery after each at a pace faster than base pace), 1 mile hard effort, 2 mile cool down. I ran these SO much better last week. I was 3 minutes slower overall. But my legs still felt flat and my hard efforts were all I could manage that morning. That one mile push was unsuccessful. I did it, but it had at least 5 (if not a few more) stops just to pound on my legs and try to get them to loosen up, find some flow, and just go. I was so happy to just have this done and behind me. It wasn’t easy at all to run this much two days in a row. Hard runs usually get some recovery time…and there wasn’t enough here. I did my second day of hip strengthening exercises this morning, foam rolled while drinking my coffee, and even managed my evening stretches before heading out to the concert that night. It was a messy day. But sometimes training, and life, gets messy. It was just over 8 miles on the run!

Thursday: INSTRUCTIONS: NO WATCH ALLOWED! FOCUS ON THE GOAL OF THE RUN = RECOVERY! GO AS FAR OR SHORT AS YOU NEED, AS FAST OR SLOW AS YOU NEED, WALK OR RUN AS YOU NEED.

So…it was after midnight when I got out of the Rob Thomas concert and made it home. Trying to figure out when I would fit in my recovery run…I opted, since I was up and awake at that point, to just suit up, gear up, and go out and do it before heading to bed. The midnight temperature was in the low 70s, but there was no humidity and a nice breeze. And, for the first time all week, my legs decided that they felt good. I felt very light on my feet, free, and able to open up. I didn’t push pace or anything. I didn’t even have to stop, slowing down every time I needed to cross the busy road because there was ALWAYS a car. Seriously, why are there so many cars on the road at midnight. But I felt amazing. I did 4 miles. And they felt glorious…despite being completely exhausted and worn out from the early morning, speed work, real work, concert…all the things. It was a nice surprise and was the lift I finally needed to feel a bit better about my runs this week. Let’s hear it for small miracles.

Friday: Rest Day. It’s always a rest day. I have a big weekend ahead of me, so this was really needed. I really made a point to get to bed at a decent time the night before. And to SLEEP! Really sleep. Except I couldn’t. And I ended up waking up at normal time. I made myself stay in bed for a bit longer and got up about 30 minutes before my alarm. I tried. I really did. I took a shower, stretched, drank water, ate breakfast, got ready for work and went into the office. With so much going on, I kept track of my nutrition, rested my legs, stretched, foam rolled, and started to prepare for the weekend. God, I always look forward to Friday. Respect and learn to love those rest days. They are more important than the days you are running. These are the days that help your body get stronger, faster, better. I might be the only runner in the history of ever who looks forward to and loves rest days!

Saturday: INSTRUCTIONS: BASE RUN – GOAL 7 MILES – EASY EFFORT – TRY NO WATCH AGAIN

I was going running with my friend, Dennis this Saturday morning. Woke up early to fit in my stretching and give me time to lather up the sunscreen and fuel before heading over the river to meet up with him at the Big Four Bridge. I had told him that because I had to throw some race paces into my Sunday run now (making it more of a race than a training run), I really needed to take this run easy. Dennis has one gear…and it’s GO. But he was doing a 25 mile bike ride that morning after the run so we were going to keep it easy. And that…didn’t happen. He blames me. He claims that he’d shout out our pace and I’d say we needed to slow it down and then wouldn’t. Maybe he’s right. Maybe it was him. Who is to say. We turned around halfway and when we headed back up the bridge into the last mile, he took off and I let him go. After all, I was racing the following day and he was not. I met up with him at the finish, texted my roommate to come and get me before heading home to shower, eat, and head out to grocery shop and get some more vacation shopping done. I did manage to get my costume locked down for my cruise. It did mean that I didn’t get much time off my feet. I went out for “magic sushi,” the vegan sushi that has been my go-to pre-long run meal. Then, I foam rolled and stretched that evening and then went to bed early.

Sunday: DOWNTOWN DOUBLER 30K – INSTRUCTIONS: PLAN ON SHOOTING FOR 10-14 MILES AT RP FOR THIS ONE

I woke up just before my alarm again this morning, probably the nerves of having to race a race. Let’s face it…I have been using most, if not all, as training runs in the past. But, while still feeling wiped from a messed up week of sleep, I wasn’t feeling bad at all in the morning. I decided to treat this like marathon morning (let’s face it…I was supposed to be running a marathon in Erie, PA today had I been able to register before it sold out), and fueled as I intend to the actual marathon morning. So, my first breakfast happened. Then I stretched, got dressed, put on sunscreen. Prepared my fuel, which has been Maurten and it has been a GAME CHANGER for me. I packed a small bottle of it to take during the race along with a gel pack to take near the end. I never want to crash on a race, and my system of fueling hasn’t let me down yet. My roommate and I left the apartment and headed down to downtown New Albany, where the race was starting on the beautiful Greenway. For the 30K, runners would make 2 loops of the course. I was starting to second guess my enthusiasm for doing the 30K over the 15K…but too late to turn back now. My initial plan was to run 2 miles as a warm up, hit it for the middle 14 (if I felt good), and then use the final miles as a cool down. In my enthusiasm, I just took off at the start, so when I hit the first mile at a race pace (faster, really), I decided I would race the first 10 to 14 and then cool down in the last part of the race. I will do an actual post on this race, but it went REALLY well for me. I executed my fueling perfectly, even at the faster pace, and I managed a time good enough for 2nd in my age division. Stay tuned for a post. After the race, and after getting delayed by a train stopping on the tracks and blocking the parking lot, my roommate, myself, and our friends (who did the 15K) Ron & Shawn met with us for coffee at Heine Bros. Afterwards, I came home to shower, clean, meal prep, and get some laundry done. Also stretched and foam rolled. Ready for a breather!

My coach did forget that I was heading on my cruise at the end of the week and had a down/recovery week planned, but he switched it up to the following week so I won’t have to run as much or as hard on a cruise ship. That was nice of him. But that does mean I have a pretty stacked week again after a hard effort. Just going to do what I can and hope my recovery really comes along.

Stay tuned!

August 4, 2019

Project BQ – Marathon Training Week #6

dreams-hopes-poster-rhino-treadmill-unicorn I was frustrated last week. I was run down, burnt out, and just down on myself and my performance. I feel like I’m always making excuses (it doesn’t matter how true they are…it’s just how it seems to come across). Yes…I worked really hard in an Extreme Heat Warning…and clawed my way through two workouts that included some speed work. And at the beginning of the week last week…my body said…”ENOUGH!” And it was a huge struggle. The worst part is when my body can’t do something physically, it mentally rips me apart. I’m not good at dealing with things going wrong. I’m not good at feeling like I’m not living up to my potential.

I am my worst critic. I am very hard on myself. And I know this. It comes with the territory of being a Type A Virgo. Perfection is all I know. So, when things skew off the line…well…I pretty much beat myself up over it for a long time.

Well, my coach…I LOVE MY COACH…noticed this downward trend. And when he sent me through my plan for this week, he assigned me 0 miles. All I had were guidelines. The distance, and most of the paces were up to me. This…was the RESET WEEK. I have never felt better for an entire week of runs than this week. This was exactly what I needed to regain a bit of confidence in my abilities, the process, and learn to have some fun along the way.

My coach, Daniel, may be the smartest coach in the history of…ever. So, let’s dive into this week, shall we?

Monday: INSTRUCTIONS: BASE RUN – COVER YOUR WATCH OR DON’T WEAR IT!

I discovered something last week when I did my tempo repeats on Thursday…if I covered my watch, I wasn’t stressing as much over pace. I couldn’t judge it. It was what it was…and it actually was good when I uploaded the data. Right on target, even. When I run tempo or speed with the watch uncovered…all I do is stress and get wound up. This covering the watch thing…this works for me. I have a little Nike sweat band that I got once to cover up my Garmin during The Color Run…and I dug it out again this week to wear…EVERY DAY…because this week was up to me. I held my usual base pace and smiled…a whole heap! I ended up doing a full 7 miles at base pace and probably could have kept going, but I had other things happening that day. So I fit in my additional hip strengthening exercises and met with Corey as well for my personal training session. It was the perfect way to kick off the week.

Tuesday: INSTRUCTIONS: ANGRY RUN – THIS IS THE “GET MAD” RUN. LET YOUR FRUSTRATIONS, STRESSES, ANGER, FEAS, AND ALL OF IT COME OUT. BE MAD ABOUT ERIE. STOP AND CRY IF YOU NEED TO. RUN FAST IF YOU NEED TO. GO FIND SOMETHING TO PUNCH (I liked that part, LOL). DON’T RUN FROM YOUR FEELINGS – INVINTE THEM AND RUN THROUGH THEM. THIS IS THE RUN YOU GET TO HAVE ALL OF WHAT YOU’VE BEEN FEELING. THIS IS ALSO THE RUN WHERE YOU LET ALL THAT GO. IT MIGHT BE FUN OR IT MIGHT SUCK. IT IS WHAT IT IS. DO IT. THEN WAKE UP TOMORROW A NEW RUNNER WITH A NEW MIDSET AND NEW APPROACH LEAVING ALL THIS CRAP BEHIND.

Deep breath, friends. Because this run…this was actual therapy. I decided to actually run this as if it were an actual temper tantrum of fit. So, I headed out and did the first 2 miles as a warm up. Because every good tantrum starts with a build-up. After that, I ran quick fartleks each mile for 5 miles…using each mile to symbolize some stress, frustration, or part of my life that has been holding me back: cancer, my fall race debacle messing up a ton of my plans, friends who aren’t taking care of themselves, work, myself…and maybe a few other things that got worked in halfway through each mile. It sucks when you don’t like how you feel because people make and actions and yourself make you feel like less of a person. This run helped me work through that. And I rounded it off with 2+ miles cool down…because every fit of anger and tantrum ends with a cooling down period. I basically did a 15K that morning. And I needed that.

Wednesday: INSTRUCTIONS: NO WATCH ALLOWED! FOCUS ON THE GOAL OF THE RUN = RECOVERY! GO AS FAR OR SHORT AS YOU NEED, AS FAST OR SLOW AS YOU NEED, WALK OR RUN AS YOU NEED.

Even with the permission to go longer, I actually made this a short, base pace, recovery run. I did wear my watch, but as with the two previous mornings, I covered it and just ran comfortably. I had the same pace as Monday when all was said and done…and was happy to keep it short and easy. I stopped at 4 miles. But they were 4 wonderful miles. I then decided that since I had the time, and Thursday’s run was up to me, I could FINALLY return to a Wednesday morning spin class. I was SO happy being back in Michelle’s class. Spin class is therapy for me. It’s hard work, it’s challenging, but it’s a great non-impact way to get some more endurance in. And since Wednesday is always Endurance Ride Wednesday…it’s my favorite. I met with Corey later that afternoon for personal training. We had to change up the original plan as he snapped the resistance band. It involved a lot of squats. Because he’s evil.

Thursday: INSTRUCTIONS: FUN RUN – PICK OUT YOUR FAVORITE WORKOUT…COULD BE ONE I’VE GIVEN YOU, ANOTHER COACH, YOUR FAVORITE FROM 5 YEARS AGO. IT CAN BE A WORKOUT GEARED FOR 5KS OR 10KS OR A MARATHON. WHATEVER YOU WANT – RUN IT!

I have never liked, loved, or enjoyed speed workouts. Ever. Not ever. Not in the history of EVER. So I was really stumped on this one. But, when all was said and done and I headed out (watch covered) that morning, I set myself up to run Mona Fartleks. Daniel got me hooked on these from the first time he assigned them. They’re actually kind of fun, and still challenging at the same time. The basics: 2 mile warm up, 2×90 sec, 4×60 sec, 4×30 sec, 4×15 sec (with equal recovery after each at a pace faster than base pace), 2 mile cool down. Got it done, putting in 7 speedy miles that morning. Then I worked in the 2nd day of the additional hip strengthening exercises to my physical therapy stretches I do every morning.

FRIDAY: Always a rest day. I slept in. I took a shower. I stretched. I finished off the My Favorite Murder book, “Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered.” I went to work. I cooked. I ate food. I let my body recharge. I watched “Designated Survivor” and then went to bed just after 8 pm. I set an alarm so I could get up, stretch, put on sunscreen, and head out early for my long run…of no set distance.

SATURDAY: INSTRUCTIONS: RUN IN YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO RUN! WATCH IS ALLOWED, BUT TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS AND PROMISE YOURSELF NOT TO LOOK AT IT ANY MORE THAN 1 TIME EVERY 2-3 MILES. 10-20 MILES…I REALLY DON’T CARE!

I got up early and had a small bite to eat. I stretched while I hydrated. I lathered myself up in sunscreen. I tied on my new Adidas Boston Boosts. I fixed up my nutrition. Anyone else loving Maurten? I drank down the Maurten 320 Drink Mix and packed one of the Maurten 100 Gels to take with me. Maurten has worked wonders for me. No energy crashes. No stomach problems. It’s brilliant. And I have had 2 very energetic and great long runs using it. I’m sold. So if any local peeps want my barely used container of UCan…let me know. I didn’t know how far I’d run that morning. I covered my watch. I did a short warmup mile before hitting the actual roads and just letting myself go. I told my roommate that I may have to call her to come get me if I decide I’m done before getting home. But despite hills and the hotter morning, this run was better than last week’s 19 miler. And I only had to stop for traffic and at one point to make a tight turnaround. That was it. And I still had some in the tank when I made my way back to the apartment complex. I ended up doing 20.25 miles…surprisingly at marathon pace. And I felt so good. I smiled. I said good morning to people. I was working, but I wasn’t straining, fighting, or dying at any point. I needed this. I needed this more than I knew I needed this. I want running to always feel like this. I need the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon to feel like this. First 20 miler came early for me…but I feel good. I felt good the rest of the day. Walked the malls, did the grocery shopping, made dinner, stretched, foam rolled…yep…it’s good! It’s all good.

SUNDAY: INSTRUCTIONS: NO WATCH ALLOWED! RECOVERY RUN!

With no expectations and no pace requirements, and a heavy heart from all the mass shootings this country is dealing with…I headed out this morning to chase the sunrise. And that’s what I did, pausing at every mile (for the first 3) to take pictures of the sun coming up over the horizon and the cotton-candy sky that emerged from the dark night. I ran the Fast Freddie course here…putting in 5.0 miles for the 50 states of this country. Feeling blessed to wake up and be able to run easy, refreshed, and without care, when people are waking up and maybe missing their loved ones today due to a senseless act of violence. With that being said, this recovery run was the last of my reset week and I enjoyed every step of it. I needed this reset week more than even I knew. This is why I hired Daniel. He knew exactly what to hit me with this week so that I could shed frustrations, anger, and disappointment and find a new focus and really prepare myself for the upcoming weeks leading into the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. I feel better about it. I feel refreshed. I feel ready.

So today I have a bunch of meal prep to do and some things to get done around the apartment today…and await this week’s plan. I’ll embrace the good…the bad…the hard and easy this week. When you’re struggling…don’t be afraid to reset. Don’t be afraid to build from the experience. Come back to it feeling ready, refreshed, and with a laser focus on your goals. Just don’t forget to keep it fun and enjoyable.

Okay…new week, new training plan. Let’s go.

July 29, 2019

Project BQ – Marathon Training Week #5

dreams-hopes-poster-rhino-treadmill-unicorn This week. *SIGH* This week…was one big roller coaster. It started…going downhill…fast. Forget the climb. There was no climb. There was just this screaming, falling, helpless feeling that just sort of paralyzes you. But by the end of the week, save for having no one to long run with to pass the time, things were starting to turn around.

The highlight of the week…the cooler temperatures and lower humidity.

It was amazing.

And I think that’s why when Monday went off the rails…I couldn’t figure out a good reason for it. So, my coach and I are blazing a new path this coming week…so stay tuned for something completely different.

Until then…let’s take the plunge and then slowly climb out of the pit that was…this past week.

Monday: My Monday run is always a recovery run. Usually between 5-7 miles. And I always run it really well. Relaxed. Easy. Legs feeling good after a weekend of mileage demands. This run started off feeling harder than the pace reflected. I chalked it up to not being fully recovered from two long runs (both with a bit of a workout element to them…the harder one being the 3×4 miles in the middle of 15 miles on Sunday) that were done in Extreme Heat. It was one of the worst and hardest runs I have had in a very long time. Every mile got considerably slower. And, when all was said and done, I cut the run short by a mile and called it a day. I had a hard time accepting it. And it ate at me the rest of that day. I did my additional hip strengtheners with my stretches that morning and had personal training. And still…I couldn’t let it go. It wasn’t that my overall pace was slower than I prefer. Not at all. It was how hard the whole run felt when it was supposed to be easy. I felt like I was pushing pace and the pace wasn’t coming, but instead slowing down…mile after mile. It’s hard for me to let go of bad runs…and this was one of my worst.

Tuesday: Speed Work. The fresh hell that hits every week. I dread it. But I know it’s beneficial and will make me faster in the end. This week was the Flat Pyramid. I was to do a 1 mile warm up, then 400m-800m-1600m-1600m-800m-400m with 400m-800m recovery in between each one. This wasn’t too bad. The temperature that morning was once again…perfect. My left calf felt tight, but I figured it would loosen up. I felt like I was rolling on this one. But when my runs were done, my second 1600 was just CRAP. For real. Everything was actually slower than I felt they should have been. I wasn’t having it. It made me feel even worse coming off of the crash-and-burn run from Monday. I figured I should have been recovered by Tuesday. It was 7.5 messy miles. And I wasn’t happy. I let my coach know.

Wednesday: Easy, recovery miles. 3-4 of them. With the week I was having, I wasn’t holding my breath that this would feel good at all. But, something was different this morning. I managed to have a decent run. The entire thing felt easy. Right at base pace. Two of my miles were faster than I anticipated, but I wrapped up the run and I felt good. I felt like I was turning a corner. No personal training because my trainer had much more important things happening…but I did my additional hip strengtheners again with my daily stretches that morning. My coach wrote me back and said it seemed like I had just come out of a mental block and was back into one. He asked me some questions, and that resulted in a very long, very honest, very vulnerable response from me as to what I feel was going on.

Thursday: Speed Work day 2 and my coach was changing up the Tempo Run this week. After struggling time after time to hit the ladder tempos, he had me running the same amount hard, but this time with just 2 miles in each one. So 1 mile warm up, 3×2 miles with 0.5 miles recovery between, 1 mile cool down. I ended up grabbing a wrist band and covering my watch face. I didn’t set the pace intensity into the workout on my watch. I decided that it would be what it was that day. And I ran it well. I had to stop for a lot of traffic that morning. And I needed to stretch out my calf a couple of times ( that, btw, feels much better), but it was an impressive run. One that I was happy with. I hit the usual tempo pace he wants me to aim for and I didn’t obsess over it or consistently check my watch. No pressure. No expectations. I just let this one ride. And it worked. 9.5 miles with 6 of them at the proper tempo pace. YES!

Friday: Rest day. Recovery. Sleep in. Except…I haven’t been sleeping well. Which sucks. I didn’t get to stretch and then chill and read like I would have liked. But I did my best to relax. I checked in with people about long runs, both of which weren’t going to be able to run with me this weekend. It was also a half day at work. The original plan was to grab an easy lunch…maybe get grocery shopping done…My roommate and I did grab lunch and headed home. We ran some easy errands instead of going grocery shopping. But we did turn on Designated Survivor before I was going to cook dinner. Except, with 7 minutes left in the episode…the power randomly went out. I was 7 minutes away from cooking dinner. Power wasn’t back on by 5:30 (over an hour after it went out)…so we ended up having to go out to eat…again. We ended up at Dragon King’s Daughter for sushi. Sushi is one of my favorite pre-race, pre-long run meals. This was fine with me. It was just an unexpected expense that night.

Saturday: LONG RUN! I had a goal of 17-19 on the training plan. With the awful start to my week, I mentioned to my roommate that I was going to head out early and aim for 19…but I’d be fine if I just did 17. I used the Maurten 320 Drink Mix for the first time…and LOVED IT. I never crashed on this run. I felt strong the entire time. And yes…I managed 19 solo miles…and my pace stayed pretty consistent and even throughout. No stomach issues. I didn’t want to quit. I didn’t need to randomly stop just to breathe or berate myself for stopping. It was smooth. It was the run I needed to round out the week. And I felt good the rest of the day…refueling, recovering, and…finally grocery shopping (and shopping for my vacation in September too).

Sunday: Recovery run. 4 miles. Same run I did last week. It felt good. I ran a lot of hills on Saturday in my long run, and my legs were definitely feeling that, especially as I tackled one of my least favorite hills along the way. But, this run was exactly what it was supposed to be…easy, slow, recovery. And I got some great sunrise views (again…not sleeping well…so hopefully that changes this week).

So, yeah…this week started off rough, but it definitely ended on a high note. That being said, my coach is taking a WAY different approach with me this week in hopes of giving me the compete reset I need to get back into a proper mindset as I head into my fall marathon. Wish me luck. And stay tuned. Because, honestly, I think this is going to be fun.

July 21, 2019

Project BQ – Marathon Training Week #4

How can I describe this week? What word can I use that will basically sum everything up? Oh…I know…

HOT!

From mornings in the 80s to real feel temps in the triple digits…this week did everything it could to destroy me. I persevered, but I was wrecked at the end of it. But, let’s hear it for getting it done. Even if it wasn’t pretty. And even if it wasn’t perfect.

(And we all know that I’m a perfectionist because…Virgo…so that’s not easy for me to deal with).

So…how about we dive into the week that wrapped up my first month of training with today (Sunday, July 21, 2019), marking 16 weeks out from the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. So, let’s all settle into ice baths (HA…just kidding…I don’t do ice baths), stay cool, and review the events of this crazy week.

Monday: Every Monday, I pretty much have the same run. 5-7 miles (aiming for 6) and an easy recovery pace. It was 80 degrees at 3:30 am, so I knew that this wasn’t going to be a day where pace was even pushed. Once my legs warmed up and woke up, I fell into a natural stride and the easy pace started to finally feel good. I extended it to the full 7 miles for that reason. I went ahead and did my additional hip strengtheners during my stretches because I had just enough time to fit it in. And later that afternoon, I had my personal training session with Corey. And we had it outside. Which was super fun because it wasn’t overly humid out. Basically…a little bit of everything.

Tuesday: Hello, speed work. One of these days I hope to get to the track and see how I do on a flat track. But this week…it wasn’t going to work. Nope. Not one bit. The speed work this week was my favorite of the workouts that Daniel assigns: Mona Fartleks. These are fun and challenging and definitely keep it interesting. Mona Fartleks work like this: 2 mile warm up; 2×90 seconds, 4×60 seconds, 4×30 seconds, 4×15 seconds (with equal recovery time in between each rep); 2 mile cool down. I felt like I was moving faster than I apparently was. I blame the humidity.

Wednesday: It was a recovery day. A short, easy, deliberate pace for me. I got up at usual time though because I always try to fit in two days of my additional hip strengtheners, and they take some times. The shorter run did allow for this. And I took it easy on the run (somehow did negative splits…I can never do this when I try), and then got in the stretches and additional exercises. This morning, I also had my 6 year check-up with my dermatologist. He cleared me for another year, but did say that he wanted me to start running with a hat or do rag covering the top of my head. MEH. I hate how I look in hats, and my head gets really hot when I cover it with anything. But, my skin is more important, so I got on Amazon and placed an order from Buff, for both a hat and buff to use on my head. I had my second day of personal training with Corey this afternoon too. He had some serious fresh hell exercises ready for me.

Thursday: Welcome to Day #1 of the Extreme Heat Warning that was going to span the entire rest of the week. So, believe me when I say that I was looking forward to taking Friday off. It was HOT that morning. Around 80 degrees before the sun was up. MEH. I had 9 miles on tap. Nothing fast. Nothing hard. Just a base pace run. It wasn’t easy in air you can wear. Not at all. I was so soaked in sweat that morning that my running shorts wanted to fall off my hips. This sort of heat is serious business and people who downplay it are not smart people. Whether you react to it or not…it’s hot. Be safe. I survived, even though I looked like I had gone swimming.

Friday: Day off. Rest. Slept in. Showered. Stretched. Read some more of “Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered,” by the My Favorite Murder ladies – Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. If you don’t listen to that podcast…YOU NEED TO! If you haven’t read the book…YOU NEED TO! Trust me. Went to work that day. Then went out for some sushi at Dragon King’s Daughter…because it was too hot too cook and…we made it through a busy week…why not treat yourself a little? I love vegan sushi. It made me happy. Plus…it was not just good carb loading for my weekend ahead, but also had some additional sodium to prep for the heat.

Saturday: Long run day. One of them. Because we were back to some back-to-back workout runs that I did a couple of weeks ago. I met up with my friend Ron, on an extremely hot morning. It was real feel 90 degrees and we started at 6:30 am. Cathy got up early on a weekend to actually drop me off at the starting point, because she had a cooler full of cold water bottles and she was going to meet us at the turn-around point so we could cool off with cold water to drink and pour over us as needed. This was also my first time running in the ultra-light Buff hat. I still think it makes my head hot. I will fight you. Ron and I kept the pace easy, but challenging. And he’s really good about telling me to ease back on pace because sometimes I feel good and that helps me to keep out of the “now I feel like crap” zone that likely will come sooner rather than later. We did 10 miles together. His training ended there. I still had 2 more “fast finish” miles to go. MEH. I took another cold water break before I left to go and get those done. I knew in the heat that it would not be super fast, but the effort was there. Both miles were in the low 8s which is in my marathon pace zone…but definitely not the fast finish I can usual produce. Iced coffee, a shower, and some air conditioned shopping later…I started to feel recovered. With heat indexes in the triple digits, and me needing to not be dehydrated going into Sunday, we skipped the Louisville City FC match (we would have baked). I went to bed after watching Chernobyl on HBO (we started it on Wednesday night) and hoped to rest up because I was setting yet another early alarm.

Sunday: I had texted Daniel on Saturday afternoon regarding my Sunday workout. I knew it was going to be impossible. He told me to go off of effort and not pace. But even with effort, this run was pretty much impossible to do without multiple, numerous, sometimes air-conditioned stops. I loaded up a cooler when I headed out to put on the back of my car. It had one bottle of water to drink and one bottle to use to pour over my head. I had frozen two small (5 oz) bottles the night before to allow to melt while I was running so I could snag them from the pockets of my Nathan hydration vest and pour over my head if needed before I could get to a good point near my car. I looped this entire run. I wore the Buff as a do rag, despite being out before the sun was up. I just wanted to see if it made my head overheat. The jury is still out on that. But I died. I died so hard on this run. No mile came without a stop or two. My effort was not as hard as I would normally push. It makes me feel like I just can’t string together hard pushes in runs, even when racing, and it’s bothering me so much. I know that it was 90 degrees at 4 am this day…but it still bothers me on a fundamental level. Want me to feel out of shape…let me fail at a workout. And this one was the one that nearly killed me a couple of weeks ago. 1 mile warm up; 3×4 miles @ marathon pace (with 4 minutes recovery); 1 mile cool down. It was bad. It went completely off the rails for the second time. And I just need to prove to MYSELF that I can do these more challenging workouts. I’m tired of feeling like I failed or having people make me feel like I’m a failure for wilting in this heat. I drank water, finished off Chernobyl, and have been meal prepping ever since.

It was a rough week, friends. I just need things to start clicking. I need to start feeling excited, confident, and prepared. I’m not there right now. I’m not even excited. And that’s definitely not where I want to mentally be with 4 months to go. So, we’ll see what happens in this coming week.

Fingers crossed that the heat never gets this hot again. But it’s only July. So I won’t hold my breath.

July 15, 2019

Project BQ – Marathon Training Week #3

dreams-hopes-poster-rhino-treadmill-unicorn What a roller coaster of a week. It had ups and downs and lots of emotional spirals that had nothing to do with the training itself…but life. And people in my life. Funny how outside stuff can affect you in different ways. I will never learn that some people will always feel the need to try to tell me how to do things or what to feel…and some people will try to tear me down because they are unhappy with they are…and some people are just jackasses.

I’ve dealt with a lot of jackasses. When I’m down, I don’t need to be kicked. And when I’m up, I don’t need to be torn down.

With all that emotional baggage, let’s dive into this week.

Monday: Another Monday morning recovery run. He wanted this to be SLOW so my legs would be fresh for the first of two speed sessions this week on Tuesday. He gives me a range and asks me to aim for the middle of the mileage. My legs were a bit stiff from all the time on the treadmill at the hotel over the weekend, but once I found my stride, I felt good. I kept the pace conversational. This was a good run in and of itself and I ended up with the higher of the mileage range. 7 Miles total. I also wasn’t meeting with my personal trainer this week, so I felt like it would all balance out in the end. It can be a fine line between doing enough and overdoing it. I wanted to be very cognizant of how I felt each day and adjust as needed. I added my extra hip strengtheners into my morning PT exercises as well.

Tuesday: Speed work. God…I hate speed work. I value it and why it is part of a training plan (especially one where I need to be able to hit and maintain a certain pace)…but it doesn’t come easy for me. Ever. And this week, Daniel was hooking me up with some FRESH HELL. My first ever 1600 Flat Pyramid workout. This is what that looks like: 1 Mile WU; 400m-800m-1600m-1600m-800m-400m; 1 Mile CD. I was instructed to do a 400m-800m recovery jog in between each rep. And the effort on the reps should be “controlled hard” and likely faster than tempo pace, but not quite as fast as rep pace where I get a full recovery. It wasn’t fun. I wasn’t a fan. But I got it done. And I felt powerful at the end of it. I squeezed in my second day of the additional hip strengtheners to the morning stretches and PT exercises.

Wednesday: Wednesday turned into a replay of Monday’s run. So, I ran it exactly as I had done on Monday. 7 Miles. Slow. Easy. This one ended up being a bit faster than the run I did on Monday…and I was pretty certain that would come back to bite me the following morning. That being said, I was hoping that my time stretching and foam rolling would help counterbalance that. I wasn’t checking my watch constantly, because that’s a bad habit that I don’t want to have…so I ran by feel. I ran too fast. No personal training this week…so that was it for Wednesday.

Thursday: Speed Work Session #2. And it was a damn Ladder Tempo that I have yet to master. This is the third time that Daniel has given me this particular workout, and it always seems to fall on the warmest morning of the week. This was the same. It was almost 90 degrees before the sun came up that day. The Ladder Tempo works like this: 1 Mile WU; 3 Miles @ Tempo; 0.5 Miles Recovery; 2 Miles @ Tempo; 0.5 Miles Recovery; 1 Mile @ Tempo; 1 Mile CD. The tempo part he wanted me to aim for a pace between 7:20-7:50, but to adjust as needed to run by feel in the heat/humidity. I’m not good at altering things when paces are assigned. And after the 2nd Mile of the first tempo…I paused and went inside to grab 2 bottles ice cold water…one to drink in addition to the water with Nuun in my hydration pack, and one to pour over my head. I made plenty of stops to pull these out of the cooler and attempt to keep cool when I was dying. I don’t mean to complain about the heat…and normally I wouldn’t…but the heat is KILLING me this year. And it’s mentally draining when I’m struggling to hit paces that never used to be this hard.

Friday: Rest Day. I stretched. I hydrated. I had my friend Michelle over for dinner, wine (I didn’t drink much because of a long run the next morning). I stayed up late. I laughed a lot. I needed every moment of that. Even if it meant I went into my long run a bit sleep deprived.

Saturday: Long Run. I had 16-17 on tap this week. My friend Christine had 14…so we arranged it so that we could do some of the run together. The humidity lifted that morning, so it didn’t feel as dreadful out. It was also the Bra Top Squad meet-up at Seneca Park. So, Christine and I were going to run about 11 miles and then finish up at Seneca with the rest of the ladies that showed up. The sun came out. It did warm up, but it wasn’t the killer heat that had been mentally and physically tearing me down. Christine and I tackled some hills together (which should make our basically flat marathon seem easy) and worked through our run to the meetup. After the picture, we parted and I went on to run 6 more miles and ended with 17 for the day. It was the lift I needed, to be honest. I needed to feel good. I was happy with it, even with the laps around the park for the final solo miles. Cathy was on hand blaring inspirational music from her phone each time I passed.

Sunday: Recovery run day. I had 4 miles to do, and I headed out early to fit them in. I made sure to include one big hill…but I also had a nice downhill in the last mile. I felt pretty good the entire time. And I paused to take a couple pictures in the early morning light. Then, I made breakfast and headed out to see Spider-Man: Far From Home at the theater. After that…I had to finish up some grocery shopping, run some errands, meal prep, and finish up the second season of Westworld. All of which I accomplished.

As of 8:15 pm tonight, my new schedule hasn’t posted. But Monday usually is 6 easy miles…so I’m going with the theory that it will remain that way this week. The rest…well, we’ll see. But I need to get some rest. So…stay tuned for (hopefully) some additional blogs this week. And I’ll catch you all up on what happens this coming week after I work through it.

July 12, 2019

The Bluegrass BAMR Podcast – Episode 10: “Life as a Celiathlete” with Karen Brady — BluegrassBAMR

Hey everyone!

A couple of weeks ago, I was honored to be featured on The Bluegrass BAMR Podcast! I had a blast talking to Stephanie and sharing part of my story (I feel like I could have gone on for at least another hour…but I also like to talk). Anyway…please go give it a listen. And be sure you share, like, subscribe and leave a review for the podcast itself.

You can check it out below…or search on your favorite podcast platform!

And thanks again, Stephanie!

“Life as a Celiathlete” with Karen Brady Karen Brady, aka The Celiathlete, was diagnosed with Celiac Disease at the age of 30. After some trial and error, and help from a Registered Dietitian, Karen was able to find the nutritional solutions to help fuel her greatest passion: running. Not only has Karen learned to live […]

via The Bluegrass BAMR Podcast – Episode 10: “Life as a Celiathlete” with Karen Brady — BluegrassBAMR

June 20, 2019

Run For The Berries 5K – Starlight, IN (May 25, 2019)

361B9A64-795A-42E7-B5AB-666F6EC21E1F — Me crossing the finish line of the Run For The Berries 5K – Starlight, IN

Race: Run for the Berries 5K

Place: Starlight, Indiana

Date: May 25, 2019

Time: 23:37

It’s that time of year, friends. Yep. That time of year that the Starlight Strawberry Festival happens. And that means one thing…the Run for the Berries 5K. Because if you want to give me any incentive to run a 5K (not a big fan)…strawberries are a sure bet!

The one thing that has become pretty common with me, however, is that I’ve waited to register for this race (and numerous others) either on race day or close to race day. Why? I’m on a strict budget and signing up for races and having to not go to them for ANY reason is a waste of my money. So it doesn’t happen. So, for the second year in a row…I wasn’t registered until race morning for this race.

But the adventure doesn’t start there, friends. Oh no!! Because this seems to be the year where if anything bad can happen to me on race morning…it will. And the morning of the Run for the Berries 5K didn’t let me down in that aspect.

I woke up feeling slightly “off.” My stomach was unsettled. I thought, perhaps, some water with a Nuun tablet (electrolytes) would be a big help in this case, but it didn’t really seem to help. At least I was hydrated, right? It was also VERY warm out this particular morning. Like humid and hot. The kind of weather that you feel sort of suffocates you when you’re milling about it in. UGH. So, another good reasons for the electrolytes in the water. When I mentioned running this one to my coach, Daniel, he asked if I wanted to use it for training or to actually race it. I told him I wanted to race it. Mind you…I am NOT in 5K shape…AT ALL!! I was just a month off of a fast marathon and really hadn’t incorporated any sort of speed back into my training at that point. But, hey…it’s 3.1 miles…I got this, right?

My speed work sessions during training have been fast. So, I thought, as I had come close to breaking my 5K PR at this race before…maybe it could happen. Maybe I could get a damn PR in one of the primary distances (5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Full Marathon). Why not start with the one I hate doing…the 5K. Because these legs were not made for sprinting. They were made for…DISTANCE. But, hey…I could do this…in shape or not!

And maybe…if the weather was slightly cooler and my stomach didn’t feel like it was sludgy…it might have. Spoiler alert: No PR. But let me first start with what I did do. I did get up and stretch and drink water and electrolytes, knowing it would be a steamfest (it usually is, btw). I dressed in the Boston crop that my friend, Natalie, gifted me with again…but went with different shorts this time for the Run for the Berries. I had my breakfast to go…something I could eat 30 minutes prior to the 8 am start.

My roommate and I left the apartment to give us time to get up to the Strawberry Festival, get me registered, use the bathroom, stretch, eat, and prepare to race. All of these things were accomplished and did happen. I even made myself eat the snack I brought, despite the stomach feeling wonky. It would be better thank bonky! (Rhyming is fun!)

I did some active stretching until it seemed about time to walk down the road to the start point. I was amazed how few people were there at this point. So, I got into what I figured would be the second row (where I usually start in this race) and stood there…waiting. Some fast looking people did wander down this way…but they stood behind me and I was like…”Nope. I try to be fast, but I’m not there kind of fast.” It all did eventually fill in though, even if I was still up front this time. Imposter syndrome!

Me at the start, when I thought I might be able to hang and be fast…

The race organizer got on the bullhorn and started to give some information about the race. Like male runners at the finish will have white cards to fill out; female runners will have pink; walkers will have yellow. OH…and if you are registered as a walker…and you run down a hill…you are now a runner. This gets said every year, and it still makes me laugh. He gave the words…On your marks…get set…and we were sent off. And I was doing my best not to blow up in the first mile.

The past couple years I have done this race, my first mile has managed to be in the 6:40-6:50 range. Not this year. I hit that first mile and decided to just glance at my watch (this is a bad habit I got into when I had to pace myself through Toledo), noting that it said 7:13. It felt hard. And I knew I was fading already. The heat and humidity have really started to get to me this year, and my body was not responding well at all today. Nope. I decided I would attempt to pick it up…maybe I could for Mile 2.

An icy cold strawberry drink was just what I needed

It was maybe halfway through this mile, that I could physically feel my legs slowing down. So, my goals and hopes were just tossed aside, and I focused on simply finishing. I attempted to, but mostly failed to attack the uphills and ride the downhills, but my legs were not wanting to go any faster. They kept screaming to slow down. And they did…without me even commanding them to do so. Mile 2 was at 7:35. After Mile 2, there is a water stop waiting. Since goals were out…I stopped, snagged a cup, drank a splash, then poured the rest over my head hoping to wake up the body and cool off my core. I managed to get up the hill, but I was toast after that.

There are a few rollers after that as you head back to the road that takes you to the finish line. You actually sort of go uphill to the finish. Brutal. And I was fighting. I was fighting with all I had to get there. I could see the finish, see Cathy, see people cheering…so I pressed on. I think someone passed me. I don’t really remember. But I pushed as much as I could (it felt like I was going in slow motion). Mile 3 was 7:53. I was going off the rails. The last .1 miles to the finish felt like an eternity (Garmin tells me it was an 8:16 pace, LOL!), but I crossed the line and stopped my watch and was happy to have it done. I was handed a pink card and Cathy walked me over to the building to fill out my card with my name and time and age division…and mine was the first in the stack at that point…which I reminded her didn’t mean that I came in first. It just means I was the first one to fill out the card.

As the race was finishing up, we wandered back over to where we parked to grab my backpack so I could go duck into the bathroom and change out of my sweaty running clothes. I was happy that I packed a light dress to wear because it was really starting to heat up outside.

We made a circuit of the actual festival booths, while waiting on the awards to start…and indulged in our big bowls of strawberries (well, Cathy gets an actual Strawberry Shortcake), and a nice, icy cold, refreshing frozen strawberry drink. YES!! It was perfection.

The men are always announced first after the overall winners…and the overall winner this year (for men) was an 11 year old kid who was lightning fast. Seriously. And…as I’m getting pretty up there…I have to sit awhile through the females too…but…worth it. My card and time were in fact…right. I was first in my age division. How about that? I didn’t feel good…I pretty much died on the course…but…bringing home another pint glass (with an additional bag for being first in the age group).

I wish I could give you overall stats, but official results for this race haven’t been posted anywhere. Not on Facebook. Not on Pacers & Racers. Not on the Strawberry Festival page, nor the page advertising the Run For the Berries itself…it still has last year’s results. BUT…here’s what I can tell you…

Age group pint glass from the Run for the Berries 5K

Officially…I had positive splits. But positive splits for positive people. I finished the race in 23:37. I was the thirteenth woman overall. And I was first in my age group. That’s it…that’s all I got.

And hopefully next year I can get a bit faster, take those hills a bit harder, and not fade so much so close to the start. Fingers crossed.

And…should official results for this race every get posted, I will happily update this post to share them. But, I am not currently holding my breath!

January 12, 2019

High Hopes for the New Year

Happy New Year, friends!!

Life has been…chaotic and busy, to say the least, these last few weeks. The holidays always throw my routine out of whack, but it just seems like it’s taking me a little longer to bounce back into my day-to-day life.

But…a few things have changed heading into the new year.

fireworks

First of all, I hired a new running coach. Yep. After my former coach and I decided it was best to go our separate ways in July last year, I pulled out old training plans and did my best to get myself into shape to hit a BQ at the Chicago Marathon. The training was hard, but I did my best to get myself prepared within the weeks I had left to get myself to that start line. We all know, if you read my race review, that my Chicago Marathon went all kinds of hella wrong. I was really down on myself and disappointed with my performance, because I was told, by so many people, that there was no way (even with the new qualifying times released JUST before the Chicago marathon) that there was no way I wouldn’t qualify. Guess what…I didn’t. I tried two out of my three marathons…and it didn’t happen. I didn’t let on much, but it bothered me and I felt like I was just going backwards and not forwards, and doing it on my own wasn’t getting me the results I really wanted. SO…I remembered that a former physical therapist of mine was a running coach…so I got in touch with him…and filled out some paperwork, had a one-on-one with him on the phone…and I started officially training with him on December 31st. Even more frightening, January 6th marked 16 weeks out from my spring marathon.

panic

Just kidding. I’m not panicking.

Yet.

Something else has changed in the workout realm. I hired a personal trainer. Yep. I sure did. And you know what? I really trust him to help me get my body back in shape and ready to race to get my Boston Qualifying time. It’s a process, but I trust him. I met Corey in 2017, and he opened up his own personal training businesses a while back. I never thought about getting a personal trainer until last summer, but with my fall marathon looming, I didn’t want to start anything too rigorous so close. So, I started with him on…you guessed it…December 31st and meet with him twice a week. He plans my workout around the training my running coach sets up and so far it’s all been jiving really well. I love how Corey explains to me why we are working certain muscles and how it will benefit me when I am running. I am trusting him and the process of getting me back in racing shape.

fitness

And…I’m currently 39 days away from my first official race of 2019. And I can’t wait. Except I do have to get a few things figured out when it comes to what I’ll be wearing. Stay tuned.

I hope your 2019 is off to a good start. What have you changed, started or hoping to do this year? Tell me in the comments!

December 4, 2018

Starving To Be Enough

Hello, my dear friends and readers. Let me introduce you to my friend, Natalie. I met Natalie through a local running store, that ultimately, led to a small running group. She and I became fast friends and, we have seen each other through a lot of ups and downs in life. Last year, she took on one of the hardest and biggest challenges of her life. She went to get treated for anorexia, an eating disorder that was, literally, wasting her away to just bones. Unfortunately, this isn’t the type of problem that just goes away after treatment. It stays with you…it eats at you…it gets in your head and it makes it hard to stay on the right path.

With the holidays in full swing, she commented on the way her life is just saturated in diet culture. It’s hard enough to deal with when you are in the population trying to lose weight. But have you ever thought about how hard it is for someone who is obsessed with being smaller? Someone who can easily be triggered by the word “diet” or “fat” or even “calorie?”

I have been wanting to welcome guest bloggers to my page for awhile now, so I’m going to let Natalie share her thoughts on the saturation of the market with “quick fixes” and how it can be a problem for people who have disordered ways of eating or looking at nutrition.

We all can agree, diets are bullshit. Your body doesn’t need to do a cleanse, you have a liver that does that for you. Your dietary choices should not be used as a way to restrict yourself from what you can and cannot eat. And diets…don’t work. As anyone who does any sport, you know how important FOOD is and PROPER NUTRITION is to performance and longevity. It’s hard, though, even for people without an eating disorder, to feel normal when it feels like every ad, commercial, influencer, and the like out there is telling you that you need to be smaller and this gimmick or new workout is how to do just that.

So, let me turn it over to a great friend of mine, a fellow athlete, and someone who has been on the dark side of an eating disorder and is working hard to recover, despite being bombarded with messages that are the complete opposite of what she needs to be feeding herself.

Below are her words, as well as a before and after photo for reference. Thank you, Natalie, for being brave enough to share your story and your thoughts on this matter. Keep fighting.

~*~*~

It’s all the time; all year and everywhere! In the malls, magazines, on TV, the internet, radio, at work, with friends and now invading your emails!

DIETS: how to diet, which one is right for you, what melting pill takes the fat away, and on and on it goes.

Food has always been a part of life. You can’t get away from it: from the moment you’re born, it’s literally shoved into your mouth, and then, we are told not to eat what we just learned to put into our mouths because it is bad for you. Yet, it’s what we have to have to stay alive!

The diet industry probably makes more money than the company’s for any other product. I think I read it’s a multi-billion dollar corporation! Well, as hard is it is for someone wanting to get healthy (which one to pick, this one didn’t work, etc.), what its like for a person with an eating disorder is absolutely just torture!!

In my active portion of my ED, I was all about different fads and diets and everyone was willing to give it to me despite the fact that I was sick and losing too much weight. I had doctors that even encouraged my particular way of eating – healthy of course – but I left out how much I exercised to burn off the little healthy food I did eat! I’m sure if I had tried I probably could have found a surgeon to give me gastric bypass!! Trust me, I thought about it! But, now in process of being in recovery, which is the hardest thing I have ever done, it’s all around me and dangling in my face 24/7. I know this is a part of life and they didn’t actually cause my ED, but they feed it, literally and metaphorically!!

I get emails everyday for the newest product of diet pills. I see a runner on an ad and then go to read it and it talks about counting macros or the Keto diet. Even gluten-free diets are used to restrict, which is kinda funny considering they have some of the highest sugar counts in their stuff just so it tastes good. It’s supposed to be for allergies to gluten or, more specifically, what it was originally for was Celiac disease which has to be diagnosed with a biopsy and blood work! Period! I have many friends with this and they can actually die from it! So, to take specific diets for specific diseases is also the new fad. Like I said, it’s crazy and it can make a normal person crazy, but with the ED, I feel like I have no chance at ever getting better because it always draws that part of me back to the fact that I’m not good enough the way I am. I could be thinner if I just took this pill or if I rubbed my belly with this amazing fat burning gel or if I get my macros or micro nutrients right. I have to say, in my treatment (which was meant for an athlete), I have learned about macros and micro foods, but in the end, we are people that can get obsessed about anything and take it to extremes. It’s in our way of thinking and I say in our DNA too.

They say people with ED are a lot like alcoholics, if that gives you some idea of how bad it is. Except you don’t need alcohol to live, but you do have to eat food. To constantly give all this media attention to something that will only work for a small time, and then the targeted person will go off their diet and then have to start all over again, because they are desperate at that point and go back to the diet programs or vitamin shops that sell “healthy ways to diet” is just as addictive.

But, for a person like me, someone who will go the distance to be thin enough and never stop. And every diet there is or that comes out, my mind immediately thinks…maybe if I try this and that, then the cycle of being afraid to eat, the fear of gaining weight and not being good enough if I don’t weigh less…all of it throws me back into what will ultimately be my death warrant!

So basically, from my point of view, as a recovering anorexic…this industry is helping us kill ourselves for money!!

October 22, 2018

Your Pace or Mine (And Why You Shouldn’t Care)

One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received as a runner…was to stop posting my Garmin face post-run with distance and time. Stop putting my splits up on social media for others to see. While a lot of times, this garnishes so many LIKES and compliments…it also, honestly, is no one’s business what my run looked like that day. And, sometimes, it can also bring about negativity…or pressure to perform.

How often do we do this to ourselves? We go for a run. We feel good during the run. Or maybe we don’t. Maybe the run feels hard, but we’re pushing. And we’re just giving it all we have (I don’t recommend doing this for every run you do, btw). And when we’re done, we click that stop button on our watch and check our time…

And how often does that time…or overall pace…determine for YOU…whether that run was a “good run” or a “bad run?”

Hey…I’ve been guilty of this myself.

When a run feels hard and it should be easy…guess what…you’re probably running too hard.

When you feel good through your entire run, but then stop your watch and are disappointed with your overall pace…guess what…you have forgotten the golden rule of…easy runs should be easy…hard runs should be hard…and BOTH are important. You probably did this run perfectly…you felt good…but your Garmin spouts off an average that makes you feel inadequate.

Why?

So many people play that social media comparison game. Just because one person can easily crack off 7 minute (or less) minute miles, everyday, for most distances….doesn’t mean that you have to be able to do that too. That’s the great thing about being a human being.

WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT. And guess what?! OUR ABILITIES ARE ALL DIFFERENT!!

Am I screaming at you? Yes!! Because I often get told that someone doesn’t think they need to recover as much as I do because I run so much faster than them. Well, my 8 minute mile might be just as hard to me as their 10 minute mile is to them. The effort is equal…the paces are different. But someone’s slow will always be someone else’s fast. And it’s a serious problem if you are judging your worth and your fitness or your place in the running community based off of how fast your legs move to propel you forward.

And social media has done nothing more than take all of this insecurity and elevated the comparison game to new heights. It is great to motivate people…but your paces and your miles logged don’t really do that. WORDS do that. Examples do that. Just because you can run that 6:XX mile tempo, doesn’t mean that I can. And expecting me to be able to isn’t right too. Telling me that you’re an extreme runner, or getting it done right, doesn’t make me feel good about my 8:xx tempo of the same distance that day…probably less consistent than yours. Your Garmin watch face…your split times…your average pace…that does have the power to motivate…and inspire…but it also can really get into people’s heads.

And let’s talk about burnout. So many times…these “extreme” runners that consistently post these fast times in training often burnout or hit a wall…when it counts most. On race day.

Sure, it might seem fun to post your 7:XX mile runs during training, every day, no rest days, no days off, but when you end up sidelined with an injury, or your marathon times don’t match up to your training runs, or you hit a wall…hard…at Mile 21, those social media brags and posts will have been in vain.

Let’s face it…an 8:20 pace is not easy if your marathon pace is an 8:30.

IT. IS. THAT. SIMPLE.

Whether you consider yourself a speed demon, a middle-of-the-packer, or a back-of-the-packer…ultimately…the comparison game will only bring you unnecessary stress.

And that’s why, my friends, my Instagram posts don’t show off my pace, my distance, my stats, my splits…because that is for me to know and for me to work on. Not for anyone else to cast judgement on or to compare themselves to. We’re all different. We all run different. We all train different. But in the end…I’m not here to set a precedent for anyone but myself.

Comparison is the thief of joy…and I’m not looking for anything but happiness out on the roads right now. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly have my goals and am actively pursuing them the best I know how to. After all, happiness is definitely a goal worth pursuing.