What I Learned About Running from Not Running

After MCM, I took a nine-day hiatus from running. The last time I took that much time off from running was after the NYC Marathon in 2011. Prior to my break, I had these grandiose thoughts that this break would be glorious and that I'd be able to accomplish all these things that I put off during my training.

In reality, it was not as glorious. I grew antsy and started itching for a run. I grew slightly irritable, despite doing other forms of cardio. (I say slightly because I noticed it, but nobody else commented on it. Maybe I just need some brutally honest friends up here.) And then it dawned on me. I think I just missed running. After 16 weeks of training, not running just feels odd. Every time I'd see someone running outside or on the treadmill, I'd wish that I were running. Seeing others running just reminded me that I was on a forced break, and though I knew that I needed that break to help with recovery, I didn't want to be reminded of it. During my training, I griped about having to run and didn't want to do it some of the time. And when I was on break, I griped about not being able to run. Ultimately, I suppose I have a love-hate relationship with running.

Running seems like one of those family members you see for a couple multi-day spans every year. You seem to get annoyed by them when you're with them, but you miss them when they're gone. (Okay, that's probably one of the worst analogies ever, but you get the idea.)

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Speaking of being annoyed, it seemed like everyone assumed that I had/have races coming up on my calendar. What makes you think that anything is next? Because you know me to be kind of obsessed with the sport?

As strange as it sounds, nothing is next at the moment. However, I'd be lying if I said I weren't thinking about my next move. I’m thinking of doing a 5K in December, the Shamrock Run in March, and a half-marathon in the spring, but I haven’t signed up for any of them yet. I’m also thinking about a late spring/summer marathon. A few ideas: BMO Vancouver Marathon (5/4); Newport, OR Marathon (5/31); Santa Rosa Marathon (8/24). (I welcome other suggestions too!) I’m forcing myself to wait a few more weeks before signing up for one. I’d rather not fall into my usual cycle of “training, off-season running, training, off-season running.” That’s probably how I ended up burnt out in the first place.

A couple of friends have even asked about the sub-3 marathon. To them, that seems like the next natural goal after breaking 3:05. Without a doubt, that's my next goal. (It's actually been on my list of running goals since before I broke 3:20.) Does the thought of running a 2:xx marathon scare me? OH YEAH. But does the thought fire me up and make me want to sign up for a race and resume training? You bet your lucky stars it does!

I ended my break last night with a 6M run. The first three miles were ~7:45/mi, and the last three were ~7:15/mi. Chalk it up to nine days of pent-up desires to run, or simply good fitness. Whatever the reason may be, I'm pleased with it, and I'll take it as a confidence booster.

Whenever I start training, I think I need to print this and hang it on my fridge to serve as a reminder/motivation to do my workouts.

Have you signed up for any races yet for 2014? If so, what? And would you mind a slightly nutty Oregonian crashing your race party joining you?

Random Observations

I was catching up on Facebook this morning, and one of my friends posted a photo from a recent 10K. He's grimacing in said photo, and captioned it, "Worst Race Photo Ever." I told him to go look at my photos from Eugene, because my expressions definitely look worse than your standard grimacing.

That scrunched up look on my face? I think I might've been trying to fix my contacts. Or I might've been ready to clock someone. Yeah, we'll just go with the latter...

And my all-time favorite for "Worst Race Photo Ever"...

Mere yards from the finish line. I look like I'm ready to eat someone's head off, and my friend described my hand gesture as "devil horns" (that's actually my gesture for "Rock on," but I could see why she'd think devil horns).

(For more ridiculous race photos, go here.)

Last week's workouts (week ending 5/12):
Running - x3 (14.18 miles total)
Cycling - x1 (8.6 miles total)
Core - x2
Foam rolling - x4
Salt bath - x1

Each run felt better than the one before it. I'd like to credit the foam rolling for helping me work out the residual kinks in my legs. We've also had some fantastic running weather! (Perhaps a bit on the warm side, but if you know me, you'll know that I'll sooner complain about it being too cold than too warm.) Maybe that had something to do with my quality runs.

After two weeks, I think I can say that I've recovered from that race. Which is good, because my thesis defense is officially scheduled, and God knows I'll probably end up doing some stress running between now and D-Day! And/or stress eating. Either way, I better watch out for cortisol. That crazy B...

One thing I noticed during my recovery was that my appetite seemed to decrease tremendously. Not that I'm complaining (it's a nice change from the peak of my training, when my appetite was insatiable), but when you're used to the insatiable appetite, it feels weird to go for hours without wanting to eat anything.

I had a random discovery during Thursday's run! While running on my usual path along the South Waterfront, I looked around at the trees (rather than the path ahead), and noticed palm trees! Yes, palm trees in Portland! I've run on that spot dozens of times, and can't believe that I never noticed them before Thursday. (If they're fake, don't burst my bubble. I'm happy just thinking that I live somewhere where palm trees are present in nature.)

Anyone else have a moment where you've been somewhere numerous times before noticing some minor/major detail?

Looking Down from Above

Have you ever spent months working on a big project, and felt burned out before the project even ended? Or drained and worn-out because of how much time you invested in it?

That's how I was feeling post-Eugene. Don't get me wrong, I love running. But between Eugene '12, Chicago '12, and Eugene '13, I've been in training mode for the last 16 months. And being in training mode for that long is just draining. (You like that rhyming there?? No? Alright, I'll just go in the corner and laugh to myself then.)

You know what else is taxing? Training for a goal and not meeting it. After missing the BQ (Boston Qualifying) standard in Eugene, my first thought was to sign up for a summer marathon so I could get one last chance to try to qualify for Boston '14 (the cutoff is in September). However, I felt that I needed a break before I could even think about starting training for another marathon. I wanted to get my head in the right place before I start the next round of training (which, in case anyone's wondering, it's the Marine Corps Marathon in October).

My time off from running allowed me to catch up on my life and wrap my head around the race. 

I finally went to First Thursday for the first time (after living here for a year and a half)...

A whole exhibit on chickens! Only in Portland... (Go watch the first episode of "Portlandia." I would post the clip, except it's unavailable on YouTube.)

Mural in the Pearl. Even on my break from running, I can't escape Pre!

I caught up with plenty of friends (which may or may not have entailed happy hour and brunch), and went to a fine Cinco de Mayo festival (just fine though -- what kind of CDM fiesta has Chinese food for sale??). I also worked on my thesis, which needed to happen because I hadn't devoted as much time to it as I should have due to marathon training.

I also wanted to take a step back to find out what I did wrong so I (hopefully) don't make the same mistakes in Marine Corps. After all, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  Thank you all for your comments and advice! Would you believe that this was the first time I've ever taken a good, hard look at my running to see how I could improve?? Once I took a step back, I felt like I was on the roof of a building and getting an aerial view of the sport of running and my race history. And in a way, life in general.

-I had delayed runner's high. Not qualifying created a runner's low (if there is such a thing), but once I broke past that and started appreciating the PR, the runner's high set in. And to be honest, part of me is still amazed that I ran a 3:08 marathon.

-I have an issue with pacing. I get too excited at the start of the race, fly through the first half of the marathon, and then have to slow down in the second half. Steven had a wise suggestion for preventing this -- start in a slower corral.

-After reading Kat and Erin's comments on my fueling, I thought about my fueling strategy, and realized that it was quite flawed. For some brilliant reason, I thought that two gels (220 cals altogether) would be enough for 26.2 miles when I had been consuming that many calories on my 20-21 mile runs. Furthermore, I didn't consume anything in the final 10K, when I was probably in greatest need of glycogen.

-Runners typically prioritize the races on their calendars, and one way of doing so is by classifying them as A, B, or C races. The most important ones are A races, and the least important ones are C races. If I shell out money for a race, I want to do well in it, and so it becomes an A race. I know that after a marathon wears you out, it takes a while to get back to normal. For that reason, I don't schedule races for a few weeks post-marathon. (Except for free, untimed fun runs -- those are my C races.)

-Marathon training is like a job, in that it consumes a large amount of time. (Between warm-up stretching, running, cool-down stretching, foam rolling, long run planning, pre- and post-long run food prep, etc., I wouldn't be surprised if training took up at least 15 hours/week.) If you're going to perform your job to the best of your ability, you need some time off. I'm not talking about 1-2 rest days/week, because that's simply a weekend for the marathon training job. I'm talking about a full-fledged, leave-the-trainers-in-the-closet break that lasts multiple days. In a full-time job, you typically receive a block of paid time off that's meant to be used for recharging your batteries (or so that's my view). Why should marathon training be any different?

-More importantly, I concluded that I wanted to register for a summer marathon so I could have a do-over, and prove to everyone (but mainly myself) that I am capable of doing what they believe I can do. I thought that if I did that, then I could erase the sour memory that not qualifying at Eugene created. But  erasing the memory would mean erasing the whole experience. Maybe I didn't BQ. Maybe I spent the second half thinking that it was the worst race ever. But I set a new PR and learned so much from this race. And life isn't about erasing the bad events. It's about learning to take the bad with the good, and using both to become your best self.

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(I should confess that I ended my complete break from running on Saturday so I could join the Front Runners for their Saturday morning fun run. I hadn't been able to join them for a few weeks, and so it was nice to be able to return to the group. I kept the run to a conversational pace, and it felt good.)

If I Blogged More...

In honor of the fact that I've written about two posts in the last four months, I've decided to write ten things you'd hear about if I blogged more about my running.

If I blogged more...

You'd hear about how I'm more excited to run Eugene this year than I was last year.

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You'd hear about how I'm already thinking about marathons #8 and #9, but haven't committed to anything yet. (I don't want to commit without knowing where I'll be in terms of job and location.)

You'd learn about these Plantar Massage Balls I bought from Foot Traffic and how they're amazing.

You'd hear me talk about how said balls, my foam roller, and Epsom salt baths comprise my recovery trifecta. (I hope Seinfeld didn't trademark the word trifecta.)

You'd learn that I've concluded that running and religion are similar. (Running is an individualistic sport, but having a community/group of runner friends provides loads of support and motivation. Religion is based on one's relationship with some deity, but having a community of like-minded believers provides (or should provide) loads of support with living according to that religion's doctrine.)

You'd hear about how I'm super-stressed because I have about three weeks to finish classes and finish writing my thesis. (Maybe I could use said stress to fuel my training runs!)

You'd hear my nonsensical musings from my runs (though let's face it, my thought process while not running doesn't make much sense either).

You'd hear about why I got into running in the first place. (It's a long story that I tried to write in my head while on my run yesterday. I got as far as, "It seemed like a good idea." Isn't that how all of my good stories start?)

Recovery Week

The Eugene Marathon has come and gone. After all the time I spent griping about being injured, feeling burnt-out and half-caring about the race, and just wanting Eugene to be a mere memory, it's done. Those four months sure flew by! (But at least I have some fond memories of the race.)

Anyway, now that the race is done, I figured I'd write about my week of recovering/not running. And to clarify that "not running" does not equal "sit on my ass while I eat and booze-face" (as delightful as that sounds once in a while).

What Recovery Week has Entailed
Three easy sessions on the stationary bike - This has been to keep my legs moving and flush out the lactic acid. Since cycling's a different workout, different leg muscles are used during it. (Remember my general philosophy: "There's more to marathon training than running.") Easy cycling's nice because it allows me to read while I exercise. (Yay for multi-tasking!) While on the bike, I finished Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (which I highly recommend), the June 2012 issue of "Runner's World," and read some of the June 2012 issue of "Running Times."

Two core workouts - Core strength helps runners. Just an example: If you hunch over, you're constricting your airways. Better core strength can translate to better posture, which can result in better breathing. (More on the benefits of core training later).

Two sessions with the foam roller - This is to relieve any residual tension. And while we're talking about foam rollers, I finally bought one of my own! My gym has foam rollers, and so I've just gone there every time I needed to foam roll. It's convenient when I have to go to class or meet with my thesis advisor, but if I have to go just to foam roll, it's not worth my while (despite how much it helps). So I caved and finally bought one. And then I caught up with Hulu while I foam rolled (again, yay for multi-tasking).

One session of yoga (plus another session of dynamic stretching) - Three days after the race, my right hamstring (or maybe it was my piriformis -- it's so hard to keep track when everything's tense) was still really tight, so I decided to go to yoga. And I felt better afterward!

One ice bath (two if you count the post-race one I took on Sunday) - Fill the tub about halfway with cold water. Add a bag of ice (I used a 7-lb bag of ice cubes the first time, and a 10-lb block the second time -- the cubes work much better). Get in and sit for 10-20 minutes. (I wore running tights and long sleeves, since we know how well I deal with cold environments.)

And last, but not least...

One shoe-shopping adventure - I went to my local running shop, and must've spent 1-1.5 hours shoe shopping. In all fairness, this included a gait analysis and shoe sizing, but still, I lost count of how many pairs I tried on. I'd put a pair on, run around the store for a bit, run on the treadmill for a bit, take the pair off, and then repeat that. Eventually, I narrowed it down to one -- the Saucony Mirage 2. Yes, you read right -- after 3+ years of running almost solely in Brooks, I bought shoes made by another manufacturer. (What can I say, they felt the best of all of the ones I tried on. Plus, my Brooks are still in decent shape, so I'll probably still use them from time to time.)

I haven't taken my new shoes on their inaugural run yet, but a diagnostic 3M run is on the agenda for tomorrow, so I'll have to try them out then. I'll let you know how they are once I try them out!