I walked out of the door at 6:40 am on Saturday, fueled with a granola bar and half a banana, ready to take on 13 miles of road. It was humid and already 81 degrees, but the weather felt tolerable (you know there's a problem when you start calling 81 degrees "cool") I meandered across the street, took a deep breath, and tapped the start button on my watch. I have grown to cherish my Saturday long runs; I'm in love with the long solitude, the sunrise, and the challenge of distance. I didn't seem to mind that my legs were burning with lactic acid left over from Friday's 7.5 mile workout (see workout below).
About 4 miles in, a cramp began to take a hold of my stomach. My thoughts immediately shifted to my first Olympic distance triathlon, when I walk-ran the first 3 miles and was in the most pain of my life. I thought also about Tuscaloosa just 3 months ago, and how hot it was that day. "Well, at least it isn't 90 degrees yet..." I thought, trying to find some positive light. Then I remembered an article I read about a world champion triathlete. The article said that the triathlete was having stomach problems every time he raced, so once a month he would fill his stomach with Mexican food and then go out for a run. He said that his stomach "blew up" as it did during his races, and he learned to mentally cope and to push through the discomfort. Talk about training outside the box. So, to apply this to my current situation, I decided that I was happy that my stomach felt like it was going to explode. It was going to give me a mental edge in the upcoming fall racing season. But as I neared my 6.5 mile turnaround, I realized that the rest of this run was going to be really uncomfortable. If I ran just another half a mile, there was a water fountain and a bathroom in downtown Dunedin. I decided that I had suffered enough, and ran the extra half a mile.
Feeling better, I made the turn for home in good spirits. After passing Curlew, (my 4 miles to go landmark) a smile spread across my face. Another long run down! However, I met a new obstacle. I heard this voice: "Hey! Are you going to keep running south? I have 59 miles to go, do you mind if I follow you?" My head swiveled to my right, and I saw and old, sun-shriveled man in orange swimming trunks from the 80's and a pair of flip flops. I laughed. 59 miles? He must be joking, he's wearing flip flops. I kept running, and I threw a "yeah" as an answer to appease him. But then suddenly, the man was running beside me. He went on to tell me that he had been running since 2 am that morning, and that he had started in Madeira beach. He was planning on covering 75 miles that day. He talked about how he runs over 200 miles a week, and told me several times to Google "flip flop man" to learn more about him. (he later told me he has Alziemer's, so that's why he repeated himself a lot) His mouth moved just as quickly as his flip-flop clad feet; he talked about how he didn't quite get the Guiness World Record for miles in 6 days, how he was 66 years old, and that he always runs shirtless and without sunscreen, even in the winter. Although I was very weirded out, he did help me keep my mind off of the fatigue settling into my legs. The man kept running ahead of me and zig-zagging across the trail, apparently trying to avoid the sun the best he could. He kept telling me how I was running much faster than he usually does, and that he should probably slow down, but he kept sprinting ahead of me. I was getting angry because I was trying to keep up with him, and I was getting tired and didn't need to run fast on my LSD (long slow distance) day. He later admitted he "doesn't usually run this fast" and felt like he "needed to impress" me. Ew. Weird.
He finally dropped off my pace by Crystal Beach, and I had just half a mile left to hammer out. I swear, anything and everything can happen when you're out there for almost 2 hours (time: 1:52:03). It was definitely an eventful run, and a mile more than I had planned. Good thing next week is a cut back week.
Friday's workout (it's a good one!)
10 minutes marathon pace
2 minute jog
8 minutes half-marathon pace
4 minute jog
6 minutes 10K pace
6 minute jog
4 minutes 5K pace
8 minute jog
2 minutes mile pace
10 minute jog/cooldown
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
If you never try...
"If you never try then you'll never know exactly what you're worth" -Coldplay
I am relaxing after a tough morning track workout and a gym lifting session, listening to music and getting ready for an evening open water swim. I usually listen to music mostly while running, but I've killed three ipods within a month with my own sweat (don't ask me how, because I don't know) so I've had to get my music fix elsewhere. I've grown to love Coldplay for their awesome lyrics and English rock vibe. I came across this line in the song "Fix you", off of their X and Y album. It has to be the best running-related line I have ever heard in a song (besides, maybe "Tramps like us, baby we were born to run" by Bruce Springsteen)
Endurance sports are all about testing your limits. How fast can I go? How far can I go? Where is the breaking point, when my legs stop moving and my diaphragm can't manage another labored breath? These are questions that will unanswered if we do not try. Never go through life not knowing what "could be"; potential is an awful thing to waste. Shoot for the moon, and even if you don't make it, you'll still land among the stars. Having big dreams is frustrating most of the time, but the path to success is paved with failure and perseverance. Perseverance is the key, because you never know when your time will come. Triumph is sometimes found in the most unlikely of places, and it will will never be found if you stop looking.
Just because something is unlikely doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a go. Goals are always worth having, because the pursuit is just as exhilarating as actually achieving that benchmark. The process of training is magical, and so satisfying. It seems that I've raced countless times and trained thousands of hours, with limited success. Good thing I love training, or else I would have quit a long time ago. I'm still searching for what I'm worth, though. If I never try, then I'll never know.
But for now, this is what I'm dreaming of :)
I am relaxing after a tough morning track workout and a gym lifting session, listening to music and getting ready for an evening open water swim. I usually listen to music mostly while running, but I've killed three ipods within a month with my own sweat (don't ask me how, because I don't know) so I've had to get my music fix elsewhere. I've grown to love Coldplay for their awesome lyrics and English rock vibe. I came across this line in the song "Fix you", off of their X and Y album. It has to be the best running-related line I have ever heard in a song (besides, maybe "Tramps like us, baby we were born to run" by Bruce Springsteen)
Endurance sports are all about testing your limits. How fast can I go? How far can I go? Where is the breaking point, when my legs stop moving and my diaphragm can't manage another labored breath? These are questions that will unanswered if we do not try. Never go through life not knowing what "could be"; potential is an awful thing to waste. Shoot for the moon, and even if you don't make it, you'll still land among the stars. Having big dreams is frustrating most of the time, but the path to success is paved with failure and perseverance. Perseverance is the key, because you never know when your time will come. Triumph is sometimes found in the most unlikely of places, and it will will never be found if you stop looking.
Just because something is unlikely doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a go. Goals are always worth having, because the pursuit is just as exhilarating as actually achieving that benchmark. The process of training is magical, and so satisfying. It seems that I've raced countless times and trained thousands of hours, with limited success. Good thing I love training, or else I would have quit a long time ago. I'm still searching for what I'm worth, though. If I never try, then I'll never know.
But for now, this is what I'm dreaming of :)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Grains in an hourglass
What is time, other than just grains in an hourglass? It governs how we live our daily lives, and it certainly plays a major role in an athlete's training. I'm always thinking about how long I'm training every day, and how long it takes me to cover a certain distance. But I'm starting to wonder, is time overrated? Is there something better out there than just a few numbers?
Yesterday I went for a recovery run, and I made the awful mistake of running a route that I know very, very well. When I hit the stop button on my watch, I already knew what pace I had run without having to calculate anything. I kept telling myself that the run had to be slow, in order to achieve the desired effect: recovery. And it was. It was exactly the pace I wanted it to be. But for some reason, it really bothered me that I had run a relatively short run THAT slow. I am new to the world of "proper" training; in my first years as a distance runner, almost every run was at the same medium pace. However, I have discovered that you should train over a wide variety of paces, depending on the purpose of the run. Makes a lot of sense, right? Well then why did it bother me so much? Answer: I am a slave to the clock, just like many other distance athletes are. And it's a shame. Training is a lot less stressful when you go about things by feel. Each day you should use the energy that is easily available to you; you shouldn't have to dig really deep on a daily basis. Your body will tell you when it wants to expend itself, as I have found out over the course of this summer. There have been times where I've felt like super woman, and other times where I've felt like a super slacker. But I think I'm finally starting to understand how to "listen" to my body. For example, this morning it told me to blog instead of run (I'm going to run later, of course :) ).
Another thing that amazes me is how a few seconds difference in a finishing time can be the difference between success and complete failure. We get these numbers stuck in our heads, and if we come in a few seconds tardy, we have failed. If I were to run a 20:01 5K, it would be a personal best. But it would also be a failure, because it isn't under my ultimate goal of 20:00. It's sad, but true.
What I do love about time, though, is how it seems to stop while I train. I'm in another world, where chronological time doesn't exist, and doesn't matter. While I was in school, I loved my morning workout because it was the hour of peace before the rest of the day was placed heavily on my shoulders. It was the hour of my day that never happened. Training is like leaving the world at one time, and then re-entering it at another. I always know that time has passed, because I most likely timed it on my watch. But I always feel like the day stops when I'm on the roads.
Time is important, but not really. After all, it's just grains in an hourglass.
Yesterday I went for a recovery run, and I made the awful mistake of running a route that I know very, very well. When I hit the stop button on my watch, I already knew what pace I had run without having to calculate anything. I kept telling myself that the run had to be slow, in order to achieve the desired effect: recovery. And it was. It was exactly the pace I wanted it to be. But for some reason, it really bothered me that I had run a relatively short run THAT slow. I am new to the world of "proper" training; in my first years as a distance runner, almost every run was at the same medium pace. However, I have discovered that you should train over a wide variety of paces, depending on the purpose of the run. Makes a lot of sense, right? Well then why did it bother me so much? Answer: I am a slave to the clock, just like many other distance athletes are. And it's a shame. Training is a lot less stressful when you go about things by feel. Each day you should use the energy that is easily available to you; you shouldn't have to dig really deep on a daily basis. Your body will tell you when it wants to expend itself, as I have found out over the course of this summer. There have been times where I've felt like super woman, and other times where I've felt like a super slacker. But I think I'm finally starting to understand how to "listen" to my body. For example, this morning it told me to blog instead of run (I'm going to run later, of course :) ).
Another thing that amazes me is how a few seconds difference in a finishing time can be the difference between success and complete failure. We get these numbers stuck in our heads, and if we come in a few seconds tardy, we have failed. If I were to run a 20:01 5K, it would be a personal best. But it would also be a failure, because it isn't under my ultimate goal of 20:00. It's sad, but true.
What I do love about time, though, is how it seems to stop while I train. I'm in another world, where chronological time doesn't exist, and doesn't matter. While I was in school, I loved my morning workout because it was the hour of peace before the rest of the day was placed heavily on my shoulders. It was the hour of my day that never happened. Training is like leaving the world at one time, and then re-entering it at another. I always know that time has passed, because I most likely timed it on my watch. But I always feel like the day stops when I'm on the roads.
Time is important, but not really. After all, it's just grains in an hourglass.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Things that inspire me
This is not so much of a blog, but rather a list of things that keep me going. Not many people understand why I do what I do, so here's a few reasons why I swim, bike, and run my way through life.
1. Nothing beats the satisfaction of running (or swimming, or biking) a PR. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the finish line and the elation after running Gasparilla in 1:34:17. I can see the clock and the crowd, feel the smile on my face and my fist pumping into the air. I remember hugging my mom after and saying "I did it! I did it!". I always pull this memory up when I'm having a bad run.
2. Chrissie Wellington. The more I read about her, the more she inspires me. She is an ironman champion, and an incredible athlete. She ran the fastest marathon in women's ironman history, which had her running blistering 6:20 miles after a 112 mile bike ride. But what inspires me the most is her demeanor. She takes a very "happy-go-lucky" approach to triathlon training, and she is always smiling. She is a great advocate for this sport, and she reminds me that I need to do this for fun, and not be so intense all of the time.
3. Races. Races are so much fun, motivating, and exciting. Sure, I could go run 3.1 miles on the Pinellas Trail any day of the week. But it's not everyday that I get a race bib, a cheering section, and hundreds of people to run with. I usually go into a race with butterflies and self-doubts, but I always end the day with a positive experience and pure enjoyment. Plus, you get your workout in super early and get the rest of the day to enjoy your accomplishment! Oh, and I can't forget the shwag. Gotta love free stuff.
4. TriGators. The best decision I have made in college so far was to join the club triathlon team. It's so cool to be a part of something, and to have awesome practices with a motivating atmosphere. I love wearing the orange and blue when I race, and the cheers of "Go Gators!" that I get no matter where I race. I remember the first Triathlon I did with the TriGators. It was the Sand Key triathlon, not too far from my house. I got goosebumps from the team cheer we did before the race and the high fives from teammates after the race. "This is SO much fun!" I remember telling everyone in sight that day.
5. There is always room for improvement, and there is always someone faster than you. No explanation needed. Get out there and train.
6. My mom and dad. They are my biggest fans, and they make every effort they can to watch me race. They get up with me at 5 AM just to see me race for a total of 3 minutes (if they're lucky) I am so thankful for their support and love that they put into my life. I would not be where I am today or where I am going to be tomorrow without them.
7. Goals. I always have big goals and expectations for myself. Sometimes they are time goals, or sometimes emotional goals, but they are always ambitious. It gets me going, and although I may not believe in myself on the surface, deep down I think that I am capable of anything. I sure hope that no one is ever as hard on me than I am on myself. These goals get me out on the roads, in the pool, or to the gym.
8. How far I've come. Ever since my middle school mishap, I have been improving as a person and an athlete. I am ashamed of that period of time, and I'm doing my best to run away from it. I'm fitter and stronger than ever, and those scars are slowly fading.
When all else fails, just keep going my friends. Hope some of his inspires you too :)
1. Nothing beats the satisfaction of running (or swimming, or biking) a PR. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the finish line and the elation after running Gasparilla in 1:34:17. I can see the clock and the crowd, feel the smile on my face and my fist pumping into the air. I remember hugging my mom after and saying "I did it! I did it!". I always pull this memory up when I'm having a bad run.
2. Chrissie Wellington. The more I read about her, the more she inspires me. She is an ironman champion, and an incredible athlete. She ran the fastest marathon in women's ironman history, which had her running blistering 6:20 miles after a 112 mile bike ride. But what inspires me the most is her demeanor. She takes a very "happy-go-lucky" approach to triathlon training, and she is always smiling. She is a great advocate for this sport, and she reminds me that I need to do this for fun, and not be so intense all of the time.
3. Races. Races are so much fun, motivating, and exciting. Sure, I could go run 3.1 miles on the Pinellas Trail any day of the week. But it's not everyday that I get a race bib, a cheering section, and hundreds of people to run with. I usually go into a race with butterflies and self-doubts, but I always end the day with a positive experience and pure enjoyment. Plus, you get your workout in super early and get the rest of the day to enjoy your accomplishment! Oh, and I can't forget the shwag. Gotta love free stuff.
4. TriGators. The best decision I have made in college so far was to join the club triathlon team. It's so cool to be a part of something, and to have awesome practices with a motivating atmosphere. I love wearing the orange and blue when I race, and the cheers of "Go Gators!" that I get no matter where I race. I remember the first Triathlon I did with the TriGators. It was the Sand Key triathlon, not too far from my house. I got goosebumps from the team cheer we did before the race and the high fives from teammates after the race. "This is SO much fun!" I remember telling everyone in sight that day.
5. There is always room for improvement, and there is always someone faster than you. No explanation needed. Get out there and train.
6. My mom and dad. They are my biggest fans, and they make every effort they can to watch me race. They get up with me at 5 AM just to see me race for a total of 3 minutes (if they're lucky) I am so thankful for their support and love that they put into my life. I would not be where I am today or where I am going to be tomorrow without them.
7. Goals. I always have big goals and expectations for myself. Sometimes they are time goals, or sometimes emotional goals, but they are always ambitious. It gets me going, and although I may not believe in myself on the surface, deep down I think that I am capable of anything. I sure hope that no one is ever as hard on me than I am on myself. These goals get me out on the roads, in the pool, or to the gym.
8. How far I've come. Ever since my middle school mishap, I have been improving as a person and an athlete. I am ashamed of that period of time, and I'm doing my best to run away from it. I'm fitter and stronger than ever, and those scars are slowly fading.
When all else fails, just keep going my friends. Hope some of his inspires you too :)
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The Love to Run
I remembered this story that I wrote for my senior scrapbook. This page was supposed to be about our first love. Of course, I wrote about running. It reminds me of why I do this, and how far I've come. Enjoy.
When I was an itty bitty freshman, I was obsessed with soccer. Soccer was my life; I lived, breathed, and loved soccer. Going to practice twice a week was my favorite thing to do, and I cherished every Saturday morning in which I had to be at the soccer field at 7 a.m. for tournament play. I enjoyed every bruise, anguished in every loss, and cursed myself at every mistake I made with the ball. If you told me that by my senior year I wouldn’t even touch a soccer ball, I would think you were crazy. Well, here I am, getting ready to graduate, and I haven’t played a formal soccer game in about a year. However, I’ve found a new obsession: running.
When I was an itty bitty freshman, I was obsessed with soccer. Soccer was my life; I lived, breathed, and loved soccer. Going to practice twice a week was my favorite thing to do, and I cherished every Saturday morning in which I had to be at the soccer field at 7 a.m. for tournament play. I enjoyed every bruise, anguished in every loss, and cursed myself at every mistake I made with the ball. If you told me that by my senior year I wouldn’t even touch a soccer ball, I would think you were crazy. Well, here I am, getting ready to graduate, and I haven’t played a formal soccer game in about a year. However, I’ve found a new obsession: running.
I remember in middle school, when my friend asked me to join the track team with her, “No way!” I insisted, “I don’t even like the running we do in soccer!”. So then again,when I was a freshman, I was reluctant when my mom suggested that I join the track team. But I talked to Coach Jenkins in my weight training class, and I decided to give it a go. I wanted to run the shortest distance possible. When the coaches asked what races I wanted to run, I said the 100 meter dash. After a few practices, they sent me to the “dark side” with the distance runners. Success was not found right away; I took a break in the middle of my first 800 interval, wheezed when we did 400’s, and feared track practice every day. But eventually, I found my niche and could keep up with the upper classman runners, mostly because I was just so darn competitive. I wanted to beat them so bad. I ended up over training and developing a nasty case of the shin splints.
My injury did not deter me. I came back sophomore year with even more determination; I never missed a practice. I was on the track every day possible from December to mid March. That was when disaster struck. On the second lap of an 800 meter race, I was accelerating towards the finish when -POP- I felt my hamstring tear, and collapsed to the track. I stared down at the white lines on either side of my slumped over body. As the other competitors stampeded past me, I knew I had really done it this time. I limped to the finish line, 150 meters away.
So why am I still running, you ask? Well, that’s what this chapter is all about. I truly love running, and I have a passion of self-improvement beyond what I ever had before. I had the same desire when I played soccer, but the sport of running amplifies it, and that’s what I love about it. Everything in running is earned, never given. Distance runners aren’t born. They are made through hard work, dedication, and with a little bit of insanity. It’s impossible to get on a cross country team just because of who you are or because your parents begged for you. You have to be able to run a fast enough time, and if you can’t, you’ve got to dig deep and train to earn a spot. Cross country is an amazing sport of teamwork, accountability, and strength, and when I finally found it junior year, I
realized that running is what I really want to do. I feel like I lost two years of high school
by not running cross country from the start. I met some truly awesome people through cross country, and I have no idea what I would do without them.
A lot of people would use this chapter to talk about their first crush or first
“significant other”. Running is my significant other. We spend time with each other every day, whether it is pleasant or not. We hang out even when we don’t want to even see each other’s face. And we fight. A lot. However, we always come back into each other’s arms, happy to have found each other and to be in love. Boys will come and go, but running and I will be together forever.
Friday, July 1, 2011
The enigma of triathlon training
As a new triathlete, I'm going to admit that I don't have a clue about how to properly train for a triathlon. I'm stuck in between being a runner and being a triathlete; I can't fathom running only 3 days per week as most age group triathletes do. My training is a random collection of workouts, strung together as conveniently as I can around my work schedule. I try to follow a few "rules", like always running easy the day after a track workout and avoiding back to back butt-kicking workouts. But I obviously don't know enough to keep me from exhausting myself.
I crashed hard on my tempo run on Thursday. I felt terrible just 8 minutes into a 25 minute effort; there was a veil of fatigue over my body. After stopping once, I gutted out the rest of the run at a slower pace and discovered that I had run at a 7:12 pace. I did that for 13.1 miles just 3 months ago. Now I could barely hold it for 3.5 miles. I was temporarily discouraged. I was wondering about my fitness, my toughness, and my training. "I've got to be doing something wrong", I thought. But then I realized something. Part of training is not just the continual strengthening of the body, it's the indefinite search for improvement. So Thursday I failed at my workout, but I succeeded in realizing that it wasn't the end of the world. I'm not out of shape, I just had a bad day. I told myself to just move on, and then I did. It was a good small victory for the day.
I have yet to find a way to effectively train for all three sports at once. Now I'm running and swimming a lot, so much so that I can sometimes hear my bike crying at night (kidding). A triathlete has to be a jack of all trades, then work them seamlessly into one race. A cool way to look at it (courtesy of Colorado's tri team): A triathlete is like a superhero, and the transition area is like a proverbial changing room. The racer starts out as Michael Phelps, a strong and powerful swimmer. They then emerge from the water and magically change into Lance Armstrong, tearing up the roads on a sleek machine. After riding into the changing room, out running comes Ryan Hall, charging towards the finish line. This is a great mentality for racing, just focusing on one discipline at a time and doing your absolute best at that point in time.
I'll figure this sport out eventually, when I stop being so ignorant and close-minded.
The Quote: "Recovery is part of training, not the absence of training"
The Song (melody by Cee Lo Green):
I see you ridin' round town on the bike I love, and I'm like 'forget you'
I guess my entire bank account wasn't enough, and I'm like 'forget you and forget your bike too'
If I could buy it yeah I'm sure I'd ride it, ain't that some shh...
With this pain in my chest I wish this interval would end, but forget you...
Wow. I need my ipod back...
I crashed hard on my tempo run on Thursday. I felt terrible just 8 minutes into a 25 minute effort; there was a veil of fatigue over my body. After stopping once, I gutted out the rest of the run at a slower pace and discovered that I had run at a 7:12 pace. I did that for 13.1 miles just 3 months ago. Now I could barely hold it for 3.5 miles. I was temporarily discouraged. I was wondering about my fitness, my toughness, and my training. "I've got to be doing something wrong", I thought. But then I realized something. Part of training is not just the continual strengthening of the body, it's the indefinite search for improvement. So Thursday I failed at my workout, but I succeeded in realizing that it wasn't the end of the world. I'm not out of shape, I just had a bad day. I told myself to just move on, and then I did. It was a good small victory for the day.
I have yet to find a way to effectively train for all three sports at once. Now I'm running and swimming a lot, so much so that I can sometimes hear my bike crying at night (kidding). A triathlete has to be a jack of all trades, then work them seamlessly into one race. A cool way to look at it (courtesy of Colorado's tri team): A triathlete is like a superhero, and the transition area is like a proverbial changing room. The racer starts out as Michael Phelps, a strong and powerful swimmer. They then emerge from the water and magically change into Lance Armstrong, tearing up the roads on a sleek machine. After riding into the changing room, out running comes Ryan Hall, charging towards the finish line. This is a great mentality for racing, just focusing on one discipline at a time and doing your absolute best at that point in time.
I'll figure this sport out eventually, when I stop being so ignorant and close-minded.
The Quote: "Recovery is part of training, not the absence of training"
The Song (melody by Cee Lo Green):
I see you ridin' round town on the bike I love, and I'm like 'forget you'
I guess my entire bank account wasn't enough, and I'm like 'forget you and forget your bike too'
If I could buy it yeah I'm sure I'd ride it, ain't that some shh...
With this pain in my chest I wish this interval would end, but forget you...
Wow. I need my ipod back...
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