The Tapper

Bahhhh. Over a month without Blogging ... guess that means my training has been going awesome.... Or I got really busy with life and totally put it by the way side ... I think I'll have to opt with option number two.

So let’s see Since February, I acquired horrible knee pain while running which I have now chalked up to my new shoes. I chose to be arrogant and wear low impact; low support shoes while running with incorrect form causing extreme pain in my knees and ankles post long runs. Not awesome. I switched back to my well supported shoes for the remainder of the month of March to really focus on Boston training. After a week or two of recovery the pain seemed to lessen and I was able to run for the most part pain free.

For the month of March at work I assisted with post season Men's Basketball travel. I ended up spending a week in Albuquerque, New Mexico and four days in Boston. Traveling does not aid in the training process. It pretty much leaves you stranded at a hotel with a work out facility consisting of a treadmill, a recumbent bike and usually an elliptical and a few free weights. No nice lap pool, no nice bike to ride long rides on. Nope. Instead small, stinky, hot, broken dehumidifier workout room. The area in Albuquerque wasn't exactly my favorite place, just saying, but I managed to get one or two runs in outside and then I biked on the not so awesome recumbent bike at the hotel. Albuquerque is at a higher elevation than Madison so it was interesting noticing the effect it had on my body. I felt a small tightness in my chest while running and often was fatiguing earlier than normal. I liked to tab it up as mental weakness until someone told me about the whole elevation change.... I still might use mental weakness as a motivator for myself.

Boston was a whole different story than Albuquerque though. I absolutely loved Boston. I'm pretty sure I could live there if the situation arouse. I thought while I was out there that I would try to run the course but the hotel was a little too far away from the course. By the time i would run there and run back to the hotel it would have been an 8 mile run not including any part of the course itself. But I love running by water so I ran on this really nice bike path along the Charles River and watched the crew boats go by. The weather was absolutely gorgeous as well while we were out there, Mid 70’s. I couldn't have asked for better running weather. I ran two days and then on the last day rented a nice road bike and decided to head out and try to bike the course. I was excepting a nice flat course since by the river everything seemed reasonably flat. Ha was I in for a rude awakening!!! Oh my goodness!

So the Boston Marathon is very different than any marathon I have ever done in the past. It is a you start at point A far outside the city and finish at Point B inside the city. Pretty much creating a straight line ( like this ... A-----------------------B) . I am use to there being loops or lollipops or some sort of circle where you come back to an area that you already ran by. So I had to start at the finish and bike to the start and then reverse the route. Needless to say I only made it to around mile 6 and then had to turn around so I would make it back in time for the basketball game that night. I probably put close to 56 miles on the bike that day (Not ready for that long of a ride yet). I loved sightseeing and looking at the different parts of the course and especially since running is really mental to me I wanted to know what to expect a little before I was going to have to run it. ) Well I found out that from about mile 13 on there are these nasty rolling hills climaxing with heart break hill. These were not fun on a bike so I can only imagine how painful they are going to be on a run. If it were early in the run not that big of a deal but these hills are later on in the run when your legs are already cashed. Not looking forward to these hills. My next couple of weeks at home I tried to hit some hilly areas to prep for this. After mile 23 though it is all downhill into the city. Most people would be really excited about this except for the fact the your legs again are jello at this point so going downhill when you can't feel your legs or every step is painful can be really hard when you are hammering down a hill. Oh well guess you can't change the course so better embrace it :)

Well for the remaining weeks leading up to the marathon I have been trying to get out and hit the hills and put some miles on my running shoes. The knee pain has come back though so I am a little worried about longer mileage runs. I have been trying to take it easy but it’s hard to hold back when I know I have to go out and do a 26 mile run. I'm trying to keep the frame of mind I would rather go into it a little under trained and injury free then over trained and injured. But I maybe a little undertrained now and injured ... not a good combination. Or I'm just mentally breaking myself down to think I am undertrained. We shall see. This last week though I am on the tapper and started my week with a 10 mile run on Saturday and will step it down to a 8 and then 6 and then 3 and  then 2 and then nothing the two days before the race.

I head out to Boston on Friday and will have two full days out there before the race. If you would like to follow along you can text "runner" to "345678" and it will give you instructions on how to follow me. My bid number is 13216. Wish me luck and pray for a safe pain free race. They are predicting mid 80 degree temperatures on race day. Not ideal conditions when you are used to training in mid-50 degree weather. Can't control the weather so I guess I can't worry about it but I can prep for it. Lots of Water!!! :) (Causing me to have to go pee every 30 minutes)

Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body ?

So I think it might be easier to do a weekly update ... maybe a few a week dependent on the business of my schedule. Any ways ... last week was rough rough rough rough ....

Sunday - After my ride on Saturday my legs were tired and sore so I decided to take it easy. Thought I might go for my run later in the day ... ha ha yeah right. Note to self never procrastinate the run!!! NEVER. If I don’t get up and do it in the morning, my motivation for a long run falls off the map. So needless to say I did a whole lot of nothing on Sunday. I think I may have even gone for a long walk outside to enjoy the beautiful weather but a run was not in my mind set. I decided that since I didn't run I could play hockey. Stupid me though forgot a hair tie. Ever try to work out with your hair down. I mean long hair sticking to your neck and face ... it was nasty to say the least. I will never forget a hair tie again

Monday-After a late night of hockey my morning motivation was shot so I slept in a little instead. I went and lifted upper body and did abs during my lunch. I find it easier to work out when other people are doing it to. I get a little extra motivation when someone else is doing the same workout as me (i.e. I force people to let me join in their ab routines :) (Thank you, you kind souls). I was hosting life group (bible study) at my house that night. So after work instead of going to the gym I went to the grocery store and picked up food and drinks. I believe that God has given us each unique spiritual gifts. One of mine I believe is hospitality. I love having people over and opening up my home to them and serving them with a comfortable safe environment. So of course by the time i had gotten everything ready and picked up my apartment  a little there was no time to work out pre and post life group. I figured a day or two off wouldn't hurt...

Tuesday- Oh my,  recapping this week makes me cringe. Ahhhh so I totally fell off the horse ... Let’s see last Tuesday I went to a bowling outing for work and was going to go to the gym after work and then go out to dinner with a friend for their birthday. Well.... I suck at bowling but I did bowl the best game of my life. I got a turkey!! Not an actual turkey that goes gobble gobble but a turkey like three strikes in a row. I was so excited and it was on the last frames of my last game. I ended up with a 148 (personal best :) ). I ended up hanging out after bowling and chit chatting with friend until 10 pm. Soooo needless to say the gym or the birthday dinner didn't happen. The chit chat was long overdue and needed so I'm glad I did  it. It was well worth giving up a night at the gym ... But if I had gotten up in the morning I wouldn’t even of had to do the evening workout ... Lesson ... Don't procrastinate ... hmm I'm seeing a theme.

Wednesday- Ha so I once again didn't get up in the morning ... I feel like it's these long winter mornings when it is still dark at 5:30 - 6 am  that make it so hard to get up and out of bed. In the summer I have no issue. I'm gunna say that it’s a sunlight thing .... Anyways, I lifted lowers and did abs again during lunch. I did squats and pushed my legs pretty hard. Needless to say I was sore by later in the day. I then had homegroup that night and stayed at work a little late. Not allowing myself enough time in between work and homegroup to go to the gym.


So I never posted these but saved them so I thought a late post is better than no post ... SORRY !