Saturday, December 4, 2010

Perseverance




Countdown to marathon!!! We are looking at 15 days until the big day, & with a lot of good training as my base & ALL the major long runs behind me wouldn't you know... I'm injured :( Just when everything was going great & I thought I had it all figured out... Last weekend was my longest run of 22 miles, & I had a bit of a shin/calf thing going on, but I thought I'd be OK. & I was. Actually, I was heading out the door to do my loops at the park & my car wouldn't start. I was out of Hammer Gel too, so was gonna stop at a local running store on my way to the park. Not happening when my car wouldn't start... Instead of boo-hooing & deciding not to run, I used my sooooper fantastic brain & decided to RUN up to the running store, buy my gels, & then run over to a different park (which has trails) to do some loops there, & then run home. It actually went really well, considering the hills on the trails, & I wound up with exactly 22 miles for the run. Not bad. I did an easy 3 mile shake out run on Sunday, & decided Monday would be my day for a track workout since we had a lot going on last week. Everything felt good, though I did notice the shin was a little funny, & the track workout went off without a hitch. I wound up with 8 miles that night, including my 10 x 800 meter workout which went perfectly. The next day my leg was killing me, & I headed out for a 5 mile run only to decide that 2 miles was all I could handle. Ouch! (I have been icing, stretching, foam rolling, etc. this whole time, mind you.) So Wednesday rolls around & I'm actually feeling pretty good. I thought I would give it one more run before I decide that I'm actually injured & it's time to take a week (or so) off running. aaaaaaand we have a winner. ouch. So, while "all the hay is in the barn" I still am trying not to freak out that I will have to take some time off here. I really want to run a great race & don't want to lose any fitness, but I can't risk a serious injury. I said it at the start of marathon training, & I'll say it again: there is NOTHING wrong with the half marathon distance. If this leg continues to be a problem, I will bump it down to the half, no question. I have an awesome base right now, so I should come out of there with a stellar PR if I have to go that route (and still be able to walk the next day). In the meantime, I decided to replace this weekend's long run with a 50 mile hilly ride (which would act as an interval workout with all the hills & would be great for leg strength - see? soooper fantastic brain), since there's no way I'm running right now. The weather had other plans...




It's probably safe to say that if you see more Christmas trees on top of cars than bikes, it is probably too cold to ride. This morning's weather tricked me into thinking this crazy idea was actually a good one. The sun was trying to peek out from behind the clouds, the trees were standing straight & tall (leading me to think there was absolutely no wind) & I was full of hope that we could get in all 50 of the scheduled miles.




No dice. We were wearing 2 pairs of gloves & our fingers were frozen stiff. The wind gusts were too much. We had crosswinds, headwinds, tailwinds... it was really whipping around out there & that is no bueno when you are cruising hills. Really, if we could have gotten the fingers & toes situation under control we could have gone on. Not happening, however.




See? I'm not the only crazy one. I had my partner in crime, Lisa, that I met on the century ride in October. Turns out she lives just down the street from me (small world!) & is just as crazy as I am ;) We did wind up with 25 good miles with plenty of climbs, but after some mechanical problems & the fact that we were the only signs of life for miles (apart from a group of  3 other cyclists who appeared to be just bat-sh#t crazy, & one runner) we decided that a cup of coffee & a nice warm hoodie sounded just about right. 





As soon as I got home I put my awesome hand-knitted socks that my mother-in-law gave me into the microwave (try it!) & put them on over another pair of socks. Nice & toasty :) Then I plopped onto the couch with a hot cup of coffee & decided to share this with all of you.

Why?

I mean, it seems pretty standard to me. not much happening or worth reading, but I hate to think that what we wonder about later in life is the stuff we didn't do. The risks we didn't take. I really don't like the question "what if?" A better question is "why not?" You have one life. LIVE it :)


 

Perseverance: diligence, hard work. 

Synonyms: constancy, continuance, cool, dedication, determination, doggedness, drive, endurance, grit, guts*, immovability, indefatigability, moxie*, persistence, pertinacity, pluck, prolonging, purposefulness, pursuance, resolution, sedulity, spunk, stamina, steadfastness, stick-to-itiveness, tenacity

5 comments:

  1. I love that icicle bike photo!!

    You can kick back from now until marathon day, let yourself heal, and you've got enough training in to finish at quite a decent pace.

    Have you been swimming lately? Maybe do some of that for the next couple weeks. Probably better than biking for lung power.

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  2. Thanks :) I was thinking that too... I really don't like my pool though. It's geared mostly for kids, which is why we joined it, but hard to get a good workout in. I think I'll try tomorrow to get in a good hour on the elliptical (if I can stand it!) & a good hour or so in the pool. That ought to stand for a pretty good workout.

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  3. I agree...this week and probably next week are swim weeks! Enjoy the "time off" and go get a bike trainer! I know it is difficult not to run, but I'm getting used to only running on race day! LOL! Great post, as always!

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  4. Out of curiosity, do you use toe//shoe covers?? I bought some toe covers but they won't work with my shoe. I'm not sure if I'll keep them (for the shoe I WILL eventually have, or take them back...I can't see how they would make that much of a difference??

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  5. @Getting My Words Out - I have the toe covers, which are wind resistant & are OK for 35 degrees & up, but really the full neoprine shoe covers are the way to go. They should be wind/water resistant & it sounds gross but put deodorant on your feet. It will stop them from sweating & keep them warmer.

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