Fighting It....

Burn out.

Finally... I'm admitting it.  Saturday I met up with a local group run for my recovery run, and while running found myself saying, "yes, I'm sooooooo burned out."  Wait... what??  I am?!?!  Uh yeah.  I've been fighting it for awhile.  February maybe?  And I'm sure everyone knew it before I did.  Or at least before I was willing to admit it.

When my mom and I were driving home from the race last weekend (yes, the race that was so poor and not fun I didn't even bother writing a race report for) she said, "Do you remember after you did the Philly Marathon with your friends?  You said it was the most fun you had ever had running.  Why don't you just run for fun and quit putting so much pressure on yourself??"  And she has a point.  I long for the days when I first started running where every long run was a new personal distance record.  And 99% of the races were PRs because you were still in the green stage of running.

And then I thought about why I love to run:

• I love to be competitive with myself.
• I love to push myself to a point that I see improvements in my race times.
• I love seeing what I am capable of.

So sorry mom, doesn't look like "running for fun" is anywhere on my list.  It's the accomplishments that make it fun for me.  I know everyone is different.  And everyone is motivated differently, so I suppose it's important to come to this realization.  

Instead of ho-hum-woe-is-me'ing it anymore, I've decided to try to de-funkify my running to the best of my abilities.  This is what I've come up with so far.

Run with Friends

I had a great long run with a friend Friday night.  Sometimes I'm too type A with my training paces and HR zones to give up control and run with someone else without being able to dictate and control everything.  For the most part it's impossible to link up my current schedule with my friends.  One busy person + one busy person = no overlap in training.  I definitely need to make it a point to try to run with a friend once a week.  Gives you something to look forward to, and helps to calm the training brain crazies when you have someone to discuss crazies with.

Plan New Goals

One of the things I miss about no longer being a "new" runner is training to complete a crazy endurance goal.  Now when I line up for a race, I know that barring anything catastrophic I will cross the finish line.  Some ideas I've been toying around with are a 100 mile endurance ride, a sprint tri, or possibly an ultra.  An ultra would be fun, and I essentially volunteered Krista to run with me when I finally decide to do one, I know that until I get my injury issues worked out that would be a bad idea.  Also I can't imagine finding time for long runs on both Saturday and Sunday.  But definitely once school is done.  A sprint tri would be fun, Megan almost has me convinced on this one.  And in return, I might have her convinced to join me for that century ride.  Friendship is give and take no?

Run for Fun

On my shakeout run pre-race last Friday night, I took along my phone and snapped some pictures.  I didn't worry about time. I'm not sure if I stopped my watch on my photo ops.  And got to snap some fun pictures.

So tell me, what are your cures for burn out?  

Hardest. Workout. Ever. + 2-a-day(ish)

Wow I really left you guys in suspense, didn't I? Did she or didn't she do a two-a-day??? She didn't. :) By the time we had made dinner, I realized it was unrealistic to think that I would get a run in without feeling like revisiting my shish-ca-bobs (sp?) on the side of the road, so I put the kibosh on that idea.

After getting zero sleep (or so it felt) Tuesday night, I nixed my early run. EEK! I don't think that's happened since becoming a "morning runner." Go figure, once I decided to go back to sleep, I couldn't. Just my body further reminding me not to try to adjust its running schedule. Luckily I had time to do the run after work, and the weather was cooperating. Sort of. It was in the low 60s and on and off raining/misting.

I had 6 miles to do: 1 mile warm up. 3 x 1600 m @ 7:42 pace (YIKES!) with 800 m jogs in between. 1 mile cool down. The plan had actually called for an 800 m. job after the warm up and before the cool down, but that seemed a bit excessive. I typically don't need a "recovery" job after my warm up. :p Of course I added a mile to my easy run on Thursday so I wouldn't lose any mileage for my week. Go figure.

Going in to this run, I knew it was going to be tough. The 1600 pace was slightly faster than my 5k pace of my PR (24:02/24:04 depending on who you believe, haha) so I knew I was going to have to haul my booty to make my time.

Mile 1: I took the warm up mile nice and easy at a 9:31 pace. I quickly stretched out everything that needed to be stretched, and then got ready for pain.
Mile 2: 7:40. Weird. I feel like I could throw up after that. That was not fun. At. All.
Jog 1/2 mile: 4:54 (9:45 pace). Funny it's VERY easy to slow down your pace when you're dreading to get to the end of the 1/2 mile jog.
Mile 3: 7:45. I had some slight ab pain, but just kind of a dull, "hey, remember me? I'm still here...watch it...." sort of reminder. Thankfully.
Jog 1/2 mile #2: 4:42 (9:42 pace).
Mile 4: 7:36. I have never wanted to quit a run more in my life. Honestly. I was in pain. No pain that shouldn't be there, just pain at running at this pace for the 3rd mile. I had to talk myself out of not stopping for at least the last 1/2 mile of this, and am uber proud that I didn't. I honestly didn't think the pace would be this quick either. I thought I had slowed down to 7:50-8:00 because of how heavy my legs felt. As soon as this mile was done, I stopped and dry heaved for a good 3-5 minutes. Starting to become NOT A FAN of the post-run almost puke session. :(
Mile 5: 9:27. Cool down. Glorious, glorious cool down. You know what I love most about a cool down? It signals the END of the hardest workout ever.

That's a 7:41 pace for the 3 hard miles. WHOO!

Maybe I'm just a baby, but that's the hardest I've ever pushed myself, which is surprising. I was very competition while competing in sports in high school, and truly thought I was pushing myself to be better and faster than my teammates, a lot of times running with the boys because I was the fastest girl. But I don't ever remember feeling that "all out" mentality during a tough/hard workout. Oh well, it's nice to know that I have an extra gear there somewhere, it just takes some almost puking to get to it. :)

The best part of the run is that it was rainy, especially during the last 1/2 when I really needed to feel cooled down. On top of how much I sweat and how rainy it was, I was a sight to see when I got home. Taylor got to my place shortly before I was getting ready to shower. When I went into the bathroom to turn the shower on, he was confused, "Didn't you already shower?" Then it hit him, "Eeew, you're just the sweaty? Gross. Go shower." :D He loves his little sweat bug. Don't worry. :p
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This morning I was up and at em for an unofficial 2-a-day. Since it was less than 12 hours, I kind of count it as such, but I won't be offended if you don't. :) I just really need to prepare the ol' legs for running that close together for the Wild West Relay that is in one week! Whoa.

This run sucked. Bleck. I think my legs and stomach were still tired from the previous ass kicking run. It honestly felt like I had JUST stopped running those 6 hard miles and decided to tack on another 5 to the end. My legs felt heavy. My stomach felt jostled and borderline nauseous. I had to stop quite a few times because I was slightly lightheaded and dizzy. All in all, sucky run. I did make it home in one piece. YAY. :)

5 miles in 46:25 for a pace of 9:17.
1. 9:17
2. 9:17
3. 9:28
4. 9:24
5. 8:58

Pretty fast splits for a recovery run, but I honestly felt like I was running 10:30 mm. Seemed like I was just plodding along.

I kind of feel like I'm getting a little burnt out from running so much. EEK. I've dreaded my last 3 runs so far. I'm SUPER excited for the Wild West Relay next week, but unfortunately it fell during what should've been my "cut back" week on my 1/2 training program. Instead of doing 24 miles, I'll be at 31 still. I think I just need to remember to try to put a race every 4-6 weeks into my training programs, because it keeps the training runs from being to monotonous, and gives me something to look forward to in the short term. Someone please remind me of this comment when I'm making my 1/2 training for Dallas in December. Thanks!