I have come to the realization that this blog is lacking in pictures when I am not traveling or racing so I will try to think of something to take a picture of, but I don't carry my phone on training runs so...
Monday:
I am looking down the barrel of Black Canyon 100K and a little concerned about my climbing. Today the goal was no stopping. Meaning, don't stop at the top of a climb to catch your breath. It was a success. The only time I stopped was to check my mileage on my watch and make a plan for how I wanted to finish, but that was on a flat section of trail.
I had 12 miles on the schedule but I felt really good so I ran 14 miles. I would have run more except I was getting hungry and didn't bring any food with me.
The other thing I practiced was staying in the moment. Next week, I go back to working at the college and a few weeks after that I will start teaching a homeschooled student 3 mornings a week. This is on top of teaching kindergarten in the afternoon. I am really stressed about how I will work running into the schedule. I kept drifting to “why am I even doing this? I have no idea how I will keep training.”
Last weekend, I listened to this podcast on Outside online with Dr. Micahel Gervais about mental mastery. It was like he was checking all the boxes of what is wrong with me as a competitive athlete. I have listened to it everyday since and even taken notes. One thing that really resonated with me was this idea of thoughts and actions and words all aligning. Again and again I say I am going to make running the priority except I don't. And for good reason, work or kids or a filthy house. The other thing I am working on right now is this idea of staying in the present moment. I think I am better at it during training than racing. Which would explain why my training goes so well and my racing doesn't reflect that. I am trying to make a real conscious effort to practice this with the hope that I will find it easier to do during a race.
Tuesday:
Easy morning on the trail. Ran a slow 6 miles before going to yoga. I am running a track workout with a group girls this afternoon. I am actually kinda excited about this. I am not usually excited about the track so not sure why.
We are meeting at Scottsdale Community College but I am there about an hour early because it’s a quick drive from my job. I change clothes and realize that I can get my track work out done before the other arrive. This would let me actually run with them. So that’s what I did. The goal was just to keep the pace under 6 min. Success! When Hayley and the rest of the Oiselle group showed up I did their warm up run with them. I paced them through their workout, although they didn't need me.
I was feeling good. I was feeling happy. I love when a workout goes well. It was fun to work out with other people for a change. Then I checked my email. I was scheduled to teach 3 classes at the community college and that paycheck has been the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Unfortunately, my boss s taking 2 of my classes because his classes didn't fill up this semester and as residential faculty he has to teach a certain amount of classes. It’s the first time this has happened and it’s not anyone’s fault but it still sent me spiraling. Teaching one class is not going to be enough money.
What is the universe trying to tell me? I should give up teaching? I should give up running?
Wednesday:
I normally suck at easy recovery day runs, but there was no problem today. I rocked that easy run! My legs were definitely feeling tired after that track work out the night before.
Thursday:
Hill repeats today. It is almost exactly 3 miles form my house to Cortez Hill. I head over there but my stomach starts feeling a bit off. I end up having to stop and dig a hole with a rock to take care of my business. Hill repeats are hard enough without having to clench the whole time. After the first one it seemed like doing three more was an impossible task! But I got it done. Close to my house a small kid was waiting with his mom for the circulator bus. He put out his hand to give me a high five. How does that not make you smile?
I only have 5 kids in my kindergarten and 4 of them were absent today. The one student who was there leaves about 15 minutes early. This meant I had time to run by Sprouts before going to hot yoga. It’s the small things.
Friday:
I changed up my running schedule by my favorite yoga teacher is subbing this morning. I did a very slow and relaxed easy 6 miles. I wanted to be sure to be back in time to eat a little something and digest it before class at 9:30am. Luckily with it staying light later I can get in a second run this afternoon.
Well… no 2ndrun this afternoon. I came home, made a cup of coffee and wanted to take care of a couple things on my to do list before heading out on my run so I could get rid of the stress. Two hours later and well into dark I am still on the phone trying to resolve the issue. But a big round of applause please, because I stayed calm and did not use the F word one single time. I will say that Directv and AT&T are on my shit list at the moment.
Saturday:
Long run morning. I headed out on my favorite hilly road and connected over to Dreamy Draw. One of the things I love about the preserve is that as much as I have run there I still find myself on trails where I have no idea how I got there and pretty sure that I have never run it before. Today I ended up on some crazy ridgeline. I just kept hoping I would find some smooth way down and not all the steep rocky ones I had come across so far! My downhill skills need work again. Luckily I did find a nice was off the ridgeline. I finished up 12 miles on the trails and headed over to the canal for speed. 12 miles of climbing, 2 easy miles and 5 miles of fast running with a 1 mile cool down. I’m still not super happy with climbing. A month away from Black Canyon I wish I was feeling stronger on the climbs.
I came home and ate, took a nap and got up to run again. Norm decided to go with me. A very easy 6 mile run. I had some painful gas on the second run so I think Norm was running better than me. I get in these ruts were I eat the same thing every day. Lately it has been cabbage, onion, zucchini, green beans and bean sprouts with some cashews cooked until soft in soy sauce. I think I am eating too much cabbage. I am definitely having some gas bubble issues this week. If you reading this blog for training tips, here you go, don't eat a bowl full of cabbage a few hours before your run.
I had already had a glass of wine when my allergies started acting up. It got so bad that I had to take an allergy pill. I was asleep by seven.
Sunday:
11 hours of sleep. This is what happens when I have an allergy pill and a glass of wine. I woke up before Norm left to go work the Black Canyon training run, but went back to sleep.
I went to hot yoga and came home to get some work done. I went for my run in the afternoon. I am trying this schedule because I would like one day to sleep in. It was a little tough to get out the door with only 2 things marked off my “to do” list. But I reminded myself about my intent to make my thoughts, words and actions match up to my philosophy. My goal was 100 miles, but I was a little short. I blame the 2 hour phone call with Directv.
Monday:
I am looking down the barrel of Black Canyon 100K and a little concerned about my climbing. Today the goal was no stopping. Meaning, don't stop at the top of a climb to catch your breath. It was a success. The only time I stopped was to check my mileage on my watch and make a plan for how I wanted to finish, but that was on a flat section of trail.
I had 12 miles on the schedule but I felt really good so I ran 14 miles. I would have run more except I was getting hungry and didn't bring any food with me.
The other thing I practiced was staying in the moment. Next week, I go back to working at the college and a few weeks after that I will start teaching a homeschooled student 3 mornings a week. This is on top of teaching kindergarten in the afternoon. I am really stressed about how I will work running into the schedule. I kept drifting to “why am I even doing this? I have no idea how I will keep training.”
Last weekend, I listened to this podcast on Outside online with Dr. Micahel Gervais about mental mastery. It was like he was checking all the boxes of what is wrong with me as a competitive athlete. I have listened to it everyday since and even taken notes. One thing that really resonated with me was this idea of thoughts and actions and words all aligning. Again and again I say I am going to make running the priority except I don't. And for good reason, work or kids or a filthy house. The other thing I am working on right now is this idea of staying in the present moment. I think I am better at it during training than racing. Which would explain why my training goes so well and my racing doesn't reflect that. I am trying to make a real conscious effort to practice this with the hope that I will find it easier to do during a race.
Tuesday:
Easy morning on the trail. Ran a slow 6 miles before going to yoga. I am running a track workout with a group girls this afternoon. I am actually kinda excited about this. I am not usually excited about the track so not sure why.
We are meeting at Scottsdale Community College but I am there about an hour early because it’s a quick drive from my job. I change clothes and realize that I can get my track work out done before the other arrive. This would let me actually run with them. So that’s what I did. The goal was just to keep the pace under 6 min. Success! When Hayley and the rest of the Oiselle group showed up I did their warm up run with them. I paced them through their workout, although they didn't need me.
I was feeling good. I was feeling happy. I love when a workout goes well. It was fun to work out with other people for a change. Then I checked my email. I was scheduled to teach 3 classes at the community college and that paycheck has been the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Unfortunately, my boss s taking 2 of my classes because his classes didn't fill up this semester and as residential faculty he has to teach a certain amount of classes. It’s the first time this has happened and it’s not anyone’s fault but it still sent me spiraling. Teaching one class is not going to be enough money.
What is the universe trying to tell me? I should give up teaching? I should give up running?
Wednesday:
I normally suck at easy recovery day runs, but there was no problem today. I rocked that easy run! My legs were definitely feeling tired after that track work out the night before.
Thursday:
Hill repeats today. It is almost exactly 3 miles form my house to Cortez Hill. I head over there but my stomach starts feeling a bit off. I end up having to stop and dig a hole with a rock to take care of my business. Hill repeats are hard enough without having to clench the whole time. After the first one it seemed like doing three more was an impossible task! But I got it done. Close to my house a small kid was waiting with his mom for the circulator bus. He put out his hand to give me a high five. How does that not make you smile?
I only have 5 kids in my kindergarten and 4 of them were absent today. The one student who was there leaves about 15 minutes early. This meant I had time to run by Sprouts before going to hot yoga. It’s the small things.
Friday:
I changed up my running schedule by my favorite yoga teacher is subbing this morning. I did a very slow and relaxed easy 6 miles. I wanted to be sure to be back in time to eat a little something and digest it before class at 9:30am. Luckily with it staying light later I can get in a second run this afternoon.
Well… no 2ndrun this afternoon. I came home, made a cup of coffee and wanted to take care of a couple things on my to do list before heading out on my run so I could get rid of the stress. Two hours later and well into dark I am still on the phone trying to resolve the issue. But a big round of applause please, because I stayed calm and did not use the F word one single time. I will say that Directv and AT&T are on my shit list at the moment.
Saturday:
Long run morning. I headed out on my favorite hilly road and connected over to Dreamy Draw. One of the things I love about the preserve is that as much as I have run there I still find myself on trails where I have no idea how I got there and pretty sure that I have never run it before. Today I ended up on some crazy ridgeline. I just kept hoping I would find some smooth way down and not all the steep rocky ones I had come across so far! My downhill skills need work again. Luckily I did find a nice was off the ridgeline. I finished up 12 miles on the trails and headed over to the canal for speed. 12 miles of climbing, 2 easy miles and 5 miles of fast running with a 1 mile cool down. I’m still not super happy with climbing. A month away from Black Canyon I wish I was feeling stronger on the climbs.
I came home and ate, took a nap and got up to run again. Norm decided to go with me. A very easy 6 mile run. I had some painful gas on the second run so I think Norm was running better than me. I get in these ruts were I eat the same thing every day. Lately it has been cabbage, onion, zucchini, green beans and bean sprouts with some cashews cooked until soft in soy sauce. I think I am eating too much cabbage. I am definitely having some gas bubble issues this week. If you reading this blog for training tips, here you go, don't eat a bowl full of cabbage a few hours before your run.
I had already had a glass of wine when my allergies started acting up. It got so bad that I had to take an allergy pill. I was asleep by seven.
Sunday:
11 hours of sleep. This is what happens when I have an allergy pill and a glass of wine. I woke up before Norm left to go work the Black Canyon training run, but went back to sleep.
I went to hot yoga and came home to get some work done. I went for my run in the afternoon. I am trying this schedule because I would like one day to sleep in. It was a little tough to get out the door with only 2 things marked off my “to do” list. But I reminded myself about my intent to make my thoughts, words and actions match up to my philosophy. My goal was 100 miles, but I was a little short. I blame the 2 hour phone call with Directv.
Here is a really cute picture of my dog getting ready for bed!
No, I could not run 2.8 miles more.
