Calm Yourself!

Hello!

Recovery Week -- that time in the training cycle when you think about race day goals, scare yourself shitless, and then try to calm yourself back down and then think about how your training cycle fits into them.

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I set out for a recovery run this morning with the intent of thinking about my goals for Santa Rosa. If you've been following along here for any point of the last 5.5 months, you may remember that my marathon goal is to break 3 hours. Ah, the elusive 2:xx marathon... It scared me shitless before Newport, and it still scares me shitless. I can't help but wonder, "Am I ready to crush that goal?" So before I start to spiral into a web of self-doubt, I'm going to just take the rational route here and think about my training.

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I can't say that I had any major catastrophes this training cycle (knock on wood). I still had some aches and pains (e.g., piriformis), but that's nothing new. I didn't end up doing as much core and strength work as I said I would. The first few weeks were good, and then I moved, and suddenly, everything went awry on that front. Simply finding the time and energy to run seemed like a miracle.

You know what else didn't happen? Sleep. Old habits die hard.

I didn't focus as much on speed as I should have. But between the superhero 5K and a workout of 5x600m intervals at 5KRP that I ran 20+ seconds faster than 5K pace, I think the speed work that I did do went quite well.

But what did happen? Well, I made a more conscious effort to eliminate gluten and dairy from my diet, and my GI system has been happier. Maybe not happiest (refined sugar seems to also send my GI system into distress), but happier. And that's progress.

I did at least one of my long runs at 6am. Yes, it required me waking up at 3am, but I did it. And I survived. And it went well.

I ran an ultra relay at altitude (4000+ feet above sea level), and over a span of 29 hours, managed to run 35 miles at an average pace of about 7:30.

So my overall point here is that while some things didn't go right, some things did. And focusing on those is keeping me calm from freaking out.

It's hard to believe that this will be my 10th marathon. If you asked me when I started this marathoning business if I'd do 10 marathons, I would've looked at you like you just took some crazy pills. And now, I feel like the one who's taken some crazy pills. It's hard to believe that the 5.5 months that I spent in continual training for two different marathons are about to come to a close. Part of me is expecting to deal with the post-marathon blues, and to be tempted to sign up for another marathon as a means of coping with them. But we shall see...

Summertime!

Summer's finally here (almost)! How can I tell? At 9 pm, it's still bright outside. I live for these long days!

You know what else screams "summer" to me? Ice cream. The other half recently introduced me to Coconut Bliss ice cream. Coconut milk-based, minimal ingredients, maximal flavor. Despite the fact that I seem to be unable to put have trouble putting the pint back in the freezer once I take it out, I highly recommend it! To be honest though, soft serve is more my thing. Back to Eden (the absolutely wonderful vegan, gluten-free bakery I finally tried about two weeks ago) apparently has soft-serve, dairy-free ice cream, and so I may have to go back there and get some to celebrate the official start of summer.

Another summer delight: mojitos. Fortunately, rum is distilled from sugarcane (and not grain), so I can still enjoy those. Unlike my former friend, the vodka-soda with lemon.

In all seriousness though, after two weeks of minimal gluten and dairy, my stomach seems to have dropped the swords of revenge. Maybe not 100% (my GI system seemed to retaliate a bit after drinking gin, and I later learned that gin is also distilled from grain), but compared to how it felt the week before Newport, I'll take that.

I'm still being mindful of my caffeine intake, and my energy levels have still been pretty consistent. I kid you not, I wake up after about 5 hours of sleep, only have 1 (sometimes 2) cup of coffee, and can still last about 18 hours. It's crazy! Maybe there is something to that extra iron dose (and pairing it with vitamin C, while limiting my coffee and wine consumption).

So now let's switch from food to training. I can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm already 2+ weeks into my multi-marathon training plan. All of the workouts have been either recovery runs or general aerobic (GA) runs, so it feels more like funning at times. But the "fun" is what keeps us coming back for more. Am I right or am I right?

To force myself to do ancillary work, I wrote it into my multi-marathon plan. After 1 week of testing that trick (because week 1 of this plan was simply recovering from Newport), I think it's working. A brief recap of weeks 1 and 2 of workouts.

Week 1 (Planned/Actual)
Mon - Rest or cross training / 4.43 mi of cycling in 20 min
Tues - Rest or 5 mi / rest
Wed - Recovery 5 mi / 5.16 mi at 7:41/mi
Thurs - Rest or cross training / rest
Fri - Recovery 5 mi / 5.06 mi at 7:36/mi
Sat - Recovery 5 mi / 7.19 mi at 7:40/mi
Sun - Recovery 7 mi / 5.13 mi at 7:40/mi + foam rolling
Total - 22-27 mi / 22.54 mi running + 4.43 mi cycling

Week 2 (Planned/Actual)
Mon - Rest or cross training / rest
Tues - Standard warm-up, recovery 6 mi, 2 x 1' standard core / Standard warm-up, 6.24 mi at 7:45/mi, 2 x 1' standard core
Wed - DS routine, recovery 5 mi, IT Band rehab routine / DS routine, 5.01 mi at 7:40/mi, IT Band rehab routine
Thurs - Rest or cross training / rest
Fri - Standard warm-up, GA 7 mi + 8 x 100m strides, strength workout / Standard warm-up, 7.07 mi at 7:34/mi, 2 rounds of 10x10 RYBQ strength routine
Sat - Standard warm-up, recovery 5 mi, DS routine / Standard warm-up, 5.06 mi at 7:40/mi, DS routine
Sun - Standard warm-up, GA 10 mi, 2 x 1' standard core / rest (unless walking around all day in honor of PDX Pride counts)
Total - 33 mi / 23.38 mi

How's your training going? What do you think of the briefer recaps?

Beating the Wheat (and the Cow that Grazes It)

I know I've taken a hiatus from this blogging thing. But life took over, and I haven't been training for anything. And I'm sure you don't come here to read solely about my non-running life. (If you do, let me know and I'll just send you an email with the happenings of the last few months.) But after months off from a set training regimen, I'm about to jump into a 5.5-month long, double-marathon training season (Newport on 5/31, followed by Santa Rosa on 8/24). And so I return to the blog.

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As I even think about blogging, I can't help but think about the focus of my blog. When I first created it in 2012, it was to chronicle how I'd be celebrating my 26th birthday by running 26.2 miles. But 26 is long gone, and 27 is nearly gone, so that focus makes no sense. 

I then think to the challenges I have ahead of me. Nearly six months of back-to-back marathon training just seems hellacious to me. (Don't ask me why I thought that was a brilliant idea. Or if I were even thinking at all.) What also seems hellacious is having to own up to the fact that I should cut gluten and dairy from my diet.

Let me back this up for a hot second. I first remember going to a dermatologist for eczema about 14 years ago, and since then, seeing multiple doctors and trying multiple creams (prescription and OTC) to help alleviate the problem. But like a bad significant other, it just keeps coming back. Red, dry, cracking skin, and the symptoms are sometimes so bad that my hands will bleed. I recently switched PCPs, and mentioned this issue to him during my physical. Based on recent research, he suggested eliminating gluten from my diet for a few weeks. I figured, "I've had it for over half my life. What do I have to lose?" In the last few weeks, my skin has improved (though considering my moderate lactose intolerance, it’s possible that my issues are due to a combination of gluten and dairy - http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/eczema), but I’ve also noticed that I have more energy, and my mood has improved. I also noticed that I felt my best when I didn’t have either gluten or dairy. (I had a moment of weakness last week where I allowed Ben & Jerry’s to enter my house. Damn you, Ben & Jerry's! Why must you be so delicious?)

If cutting both of those out will improve my overall health, and a healthier runner makes for a faster runner (or so I hope), then maybe I should try eliminating both for this training cycle. And then share how it’s affected my training, because from what Google has told me, there are very few gluten-free running blogs out there.

This (Newport) will be the first one I’ll have trained for sans gluten. And subsequently, sans post-long run breakfast burrito. Those I will miss dearly. (No joke, I've ended two of my long runs at taquerias so I could refuel with one of those glorious egg-and-cheese footballs.) 

Not ordering cheese and sour cream in the burrito is one thing. But you can’t have a burrito without a tortilla. If anyone can tell me where in Portland I can find a GF breakfast burrito, I will gladly treat you to one. Carb loading could also get interesting, but I know there are so many non-wheat options. I just need to get creative.

Do you have any dietary restrictions (either self-imposed or medically-imposed)? How do you cope?