Facing Myself

Last year was all about zone 2. Everything. Anything over zone 2 happened in a race. I ran lots and lots of easy miles to increase my durability. And, I have to say, it really worked. After so many years of painful running, my body has repaired and rebounded.

Sooooooo.....now I keep seeing little tempo runs sneaking into my training peaks. They are sprinkled in so that they look benign. Tonight I had to continually increase my effort until I ended my run with 15 minutes at an uncomfortably hard effort. I was transitioning into the last interval when I realized.....WAIT! That is 3 x fast running this week! He snuck 7 miles of tempo into my long run Sunday and didn't I just do intervals on the track Tuesday? I CAN'T do this!!!! Too much!!!!!!

Seems I will do anything to avoid fast running....pain....hard work...

And I had to face myself.

I realized I had absolutely NO EXCUSE for not running faster and doing the workout. I mean, they (my excuses) are all gone. My knees don't hurt. I am not recovering from surgery. I am durable. I can hold the pace. I am not injuring myself.

Basically, in those 15 minutes, I had to look at myself and be honest. The truth is this: I don't like to feel uncomfortable. It has absolutely nothing to do with my ability to do the work.

Ew. I didn't like to realize that about myself. I felt lazy when I realized running harder was a choice- a choice I often don't make. I definitely made the tempo happen after that conversation with myself, and in the process I rid myself of one more excuse for not becoming a better runner.

When faced with the same choice again, I hope I will keep choosing discomfort.

Overall, a good day with swim, work, run, and......time with my nephew!

Today Aunt Damie and Nathaniel read about colors and reptiles.

Isn't he soooo cute!!!!!

Pack Update

A Breesy update:
Little Miss Sassy is doing well in our house. She has literally taken over every dog bed. We have 4 scattered throughout the house, and she sleeps on every one of them. At nighttime, she sleeps next to our bed on a dog bed. It is really funny. For some reason, the dog smell does not bother her at all, and she is just this tiny ball of fur on a big bed.

She really is a sassy thing. Each animal has his/her own personality, and Breesy is just full of herself. She mostly plays with Cayenne, as I think Rooney is annoyed by her. Last night she kept hiding on the side of the couch and then jumping up and putting a sneak attack on Caya. It is hard not to laugh, and Cayenne deserves every bit of it. So, now we have 3 official butt-heads in the house. Breesy is climbing my bike as I type, and Cayenne is sitting in my lap. Rooney is just being a good dog. Good times.

I am trying to update this blog a little bit, so bear with me. A work in progress! I use this so much...more so than facebook or twitter, so I figure I will keep trying to make it user friendly and personal. Even if no one else ever reads this, I know my mom does, and she wants to know what is going on. :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Easing Into It

I am on a roll. It was another good IM training weekend with a good long trainer ride/brick and long run. I got in a good 4 hour trainer ride at ironman intensity followed by an easy run. The trainer rides are much more fun with company! The IM motivation is really starting to gain some momentum.

Behold the man cave at the Wilmoth's home. When it is 20 something degrees outside, this is my workout venue of choice!A view from my bike with the Green Lantern as our movie for the day. The chosen movies definitely catered to the guys. I swear one of the movies was soft porn disguised a comedy! I am used to talking throughout the entirety of a bike ride, and it was hard for me to pay attention and not be chatty.

Alisha was the best host. I had to be on the bike the longest, and she brought me coffee and gels, let me borrow clothes and towels, and had muffins waiting for me at the end!

I try not to post a lot of training advice on this blog as there are many, many more blogs out there with outstanding athletes and great training tips. But, I do want to bring up something today about easing in to a training session.

The other day I heard someone say that our group run had started off too slowly. (And this group has some really fast runners, so it blew my mind to hear that comment!) I guess it was ruining their overall average pace for the day? I also often ride with female triathletes that start their rides at the fastest speed that they hope to maintain through the ride. Again, is the quality of training all about that average mph at the end of the ride? (you know my answer to both of these questions is No and No).

I have been taught and I firmly believe in warming up. We have always done this in soccer. Watch any field sport, and you will see the slowest warm-ups on earth that build into intensity. By the time we play, we are sprinting hard. Warm up pace is different for everyone, but for me it is almost always 9 min + miles. So, it doesn't matter what type of run I have for the day, I can guarantee you that at least 1-2 miles, if not more, will be at 9+ min. I don't even look at the pace or care. I just let my HR slowly elevate. Sometimes I am having an off day, and my pace stays there. My body is not warming up or responding, and I listen to it and accept the day for what it is. I am not embarrassed one little bit to run 9+min miles. I have run much, much slower. I have also run faster when it counts. (and that is the point, right? to run fast when it counts!)

If I choose to NOT do my warm up slowly, I will push the HR up quickly, and it will usually remain overly elevated for the duration of the training session. I find that when this happens, I run slower at higher heart rates, which is not the point!

So, for example, today I ran 17.5 miles. The run included 7 miles worth of tempo work divided into two different sections for the run. But, my first mile was around 9 mins. My next few miles were 8:45ish. But then I was at 7 min pace for a few miles. I backed off when the plan said to slow, and sped up when the plan said to run harder. I had a great run, but I had no idea what the average pace for the run would be, nor did I care. It was the quality of the work I did- when I was supposed to do it- that matters. I would never sacrifice the warm up thinking I would have a better "number" at the end of the run.

I read a good post a long time ago by Beth Walsh that touches on this topic a bit and offers some good tips for runners. Way more so than I, she can back up her ideas with some stellar running results. I identified with this post...maybe because we have shared the same mentor. Regardless...it just makes sense, and I think if you really love and study the sport, you understand the difference between quality training and ego.

Don't let your need to see an overall mph or pace prevent you from taking the time to ease into your workout. Save the huffing and puffing for the real work and spare yourself from burning all of your glycogen up too soon. Know the purpose of your workout and don't just blindly run/ride to see some arbitrary average number. Don't be too proud to warm up.