So it’s the end of my 2010 racing season. I’m sure it’s near the end of yours too. Does anybody else feel lost? Feeling like you don’t have a life anymore? That all the things you sacrificed for training don’t even seem like an option anymore?
I have been feeling this way since I got back from the Chicago Marathon. Yes, work is still busy and takes up most of my time, but I feel... well, different. Slightly off. I have free time. I could drink wine every night if I wanted to and not feel guilty. I could go out with friends I haven’t seen. I could catch up on books, cleaning, laundry, shopping... everything I’ve been neglecting for the past 10 months. I feel free-er. But I still feel off. I am just so used to my structured lifestyle that with so many options I don’t even know what to do with myself.
My hangover is in two parts. The mental one described above and the physical one. I am so afraid that I’m gonna lose all the fitness I’ve earned in the past 10 months. But I am following strict orders to chill out and it’s ok to gain 5 pounds in the next 2 months. All that crap is gonna come off once I start “real” training again in January. So here I am... chillaxing.... and I’M BORED!!!!
On Sunday, I decided to lace up my Asics for the first time since the marathon and go for an easy 4 mile run. I was curious to see how my legs would feel after two full weeks off from running. Surprisingly to me, they felt great! My heart rate was a little high but I think that’s a combo of not eating well the day before (cheeseburger & french fries for lunch and Mexican for dinner) and not running for two weeks. I did 4 miles in the park and it was gorgeous out. The leaves are starting to turn from green to red and orange and yellow. It’s so nice and I was reminded how lucky I am.
I was also reminded of something else.... After my 4 mile run, I went biking with Simon and Paul. Back up to Central Park I went, but this time it was with laughter, conversations and some yelling at tourists. We did 3 laps and I felt awesome! My legs weren’t tired and I just enjoyed two sports that I have grown to love. That felt amazing. I was thinking that most sprint tri’s are ½ mile swim, 18 mile bike and 5k…. I almost did a sprint tri without realizing it. Now, I know for you endurance junkies out there, that kind of mileage isn’t much… but for me, in my off season, I thought it was awesome! In the past 5 years, I have never done that on a whim. So I was reminded that just knowing I have enough fitness to go out on a Sunday and do my thang without feeling crappy, or working too hard…. That’s golden. And I need to remember that.
Like I said above, I’ve struggled the past two weeks without structured training. I like structure. I like planning. I already have 2011 race plan ready to go. I’m ready to go! Or I should say my mind is ready to go! But my body needs a break. It did enjoy sweating yesterday. It did enjoy pushing down on the pedals and slipping on my Asics. But it also knows, that I’m not gonna workout today! I’m gonna do some laundry, go food shopping, cook dinner, and have a glass of wine while watching the Giant game! Cheers to the off season!!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Chicago marathon = Hot
Two words for you people…. Heat Wave! Oh yes, the windy city stayed true to it’s unpredictable nature and threw out 80+ degrees on race day. How fun. NOT! Anyway, there’s nothing you can do about the weather except change your attitude about it…. And trade in the cute matching bright yellow and purple T-shirts you were gonna wear with your friends, for individual tank tops. But hey, we tried our best to stay cool.
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| Sears Tower aka Willis Tower |
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| 10-10-10 Baby! |
So this was my third marathon, the two previous being in the Big Apple. I have to say it was a really well run race. I didn’t have to wake up crazy early (well, to some of you 530 is crazy early),I didn’t’ have to smush myself on a packed subway just to take a ferry all the way out to Staten Island, and I didn’t have to sit in the cold for hours pre-marathon. This was quite the opposite. The race started at 730 so we strolled from our hotels to Grant Park. Checked in our bags pretty painlessly, went to the porta johns and then bam, we were at the start line by 7. Simplicity at it’s best. The porta johns actually did take a bit longer than normal since 2 of the johns were locked with no one inside (yours truly figured that out and unlocked them) and 1 literally had poo on the seat. I mean, come on people! Who would want to go in there after seeing that?!? So nasty. Anyway, that drama aside it was a very relaxed morning.
The start of the race is pretty cool. Once you cross the start line (which we happened to cross just has Springsteen’s Born to Run came on – go jersey!), you run down under an overpass and there are tons of people lined up along the sides yelling and cheering. It was pretty darn cool. I didn’t preview this course in any way, shape or form. I knew it was going to be flat with occasional hill here and there and I was psyched! The first 10k went by in a blur. I was feeling great, no leg soreness, no coughing (I had a slight cold the week prior) and I was clocking between 850-9 min miles which was below my goal pace! Even though I didn’t plan on going under 9 minute miles, I didn’t feel like I was overexerting myself too early so I kept it up.
The start of the race is pretty cool. Once you cross the start line (which we happened to cross just has Springsteen’s Born to Run came on – go jersey!), you run down under an overpass and there are tons of people lined up along the sides yelling and cheering. It was pretty darn cool. I didn’t preview this course in any way, shape or form. I knew it was going to be flat with occasional hill here and there and I was psyched! The first 10k went by in a blur. I was feeling great, no leg soreness, no coughing (I had a slight cold the week prior) and I was clocking between 850-9 min miles which was below my goal pace! Even though I didn’t plan on going under 9 minute miles, I didn’t feel like I was overexerting myself too early so I kept it up.
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| Seeing our fans for the first time felt great! |
There were two neighborhoods of the 22 that really stood out in my race. The first one was around miles 7&8. This neighborhood would fall under the “Chelsea” neighborhood of NYC. It was fantastic! 10 men dressed up as majorettes throwing the rifle around to Madonna’s Vogue!! So amazing! Then the next group of fine young men were dressed as Wonder Woman and cheering like crazy for all the runners. I could have run by that 30 times that day and it would have never gotten old! The next hood that stood out in my mind was the Spanish section. The men and ladies yelling “Vamos! Vamos!” was pretty cool too! I can’t remember what mile that was… I think it was after mile 14…
Darn that mile 14! That’s where my race, as well as everyone else’s around me, started to fall apart. I felt fantastic the first half. I had the 3:55 pace group within sight and the miles were just ticking away. I was enjoying every minute, running with one of my best friends, enjoying the day, then came mile 14. The sun came out in full force – no shade, no relief – and the temperature literally rose up to 80 degrees. I started to slow a bit. My legs were just starting to feel heavier and heavier and it was taking more effort to run that it should have at this point in a marathon. I let Kelly go ahead of me. I fell back a bit but kept the 3:55 pace group within sight for another 4 miles.
Honestly, from mile 18 to 26, it was one hot messy blur. I was doing everything in my power not to walk. I knew how hard it was going to be to get started running again if I walked. Once I lost sight of the 3:55 pace group, it became “just finish” mode. The 4 hour pace group hadn’t passed me and I banked up some time from the 1st half so I still had hope I would break 4 hours. Every aid station I would drink a Gatorade, wash it down with a sip of water, then pour 3 cups of water over my head. Gosh that felt good. I was living for the aid stations. I would not have survived with out them. I also want to give a shout out to the volunteers. It’s a long day for them too and I made sure to thank each one that passed me a drink. The race could not go on without them.
Mile 22 provided a little bit of a mental boost. There was great music playing, an announcer encouraging all of us and that helped me a lot. The other thing I noticed from Mile 22 on was all the people walking. I’ve never seen so many people walk in a marathon before! There were also the folks who were with medical personnel on the sides of the roads. It was serious business out there – you really can’t mess around in that kind of heat.
My memory gets really blurry after mile 22. I remember walking through an aid station just to give my legs some relief. They just felt like I was running with two tree trunks as legs. I got to see out fan club of spectators 3 times during the race. I would have been a fourth around mile 25 but I tuned out everything. There’s a ton of photos of me from Simon and I did not see or hear him at all. All I was focused on was finishing my run. The other notable thing that happened was that the 4 hour pace group leader passed me at mile 22 as well… and it looked like she was sprinting on by! I’m sure it was just my slow pace at that point compared to her 9:08… oh well.
Darn that mile 14! That’s where my race, as well as everyone else’s around me, started to fall apart. I felt fantastic the first half. I had the 3:55 pace group within sight and the miles were just ticking away. I was enjoying every minute, running with one of my best friends, enjoying the day, then came mile 14. The sun came out in full force – no shade, no relief – and the temperature literally rose up to 80 degrees. I started to slow a bit. My legs were just starting to feel heavier and heavier and it was taking more effort to run that it should have at this point in a marathon. I let Kelly go ahead of me. I fell back a bit but kept the 3:55 pace group within sight for another 4 miles.
Honestly, from mile 18 to 26, it was one hot messy blur. I was doing everything in my power not to walk. I knew how hard it was going to be to get started running again if I walked. Once I lost sight of the 3:55 pace group, it became “just finish” mode. The 4 hour pace group hadn’t passed me and I banked up some time from the 1st half so I still had hope I would break 4 hours. Every aid station I would drink a Gatorade, wash it down with a sip of water, then pour 3 cups of water over my head. Gosh that felt good. I was living for the aid stations. I would not have survived with out them. I also want to give a shout out to the volunteers. It’s a long day for them too and I made sure to thank each one that passed me a drink. The race could not go on without them.
Mile 22 provided a little bit of a mental boost. There was great music playing, an announcer encouraging all of us and that helped me a lot. The other thing I noticed from Mile 22 on was all the people walking. I’ve never seen so many people walk in a marathon before! There were also the folks who were with medical personnel on the sides of the roads. It was serious business out there – you really can’t mess around in that kind of heat.
My memory gets really blurry after mile 22. I remember walking through an aid station just to give my legs some relief. They just felt like I was running with two tree trunks as legs. I got to see out fan club of spectators 3 times during the race. I would have been a fourth around mile 25 but I tuned out everything. There’s a ton of photos of me from Simon and I did not see or hear him at all. All I was focused on was finishing my run. The other notable thing that happened was that the 4 hour pace group leader passed me at mile 22 as well… and it looked like she was sprinting on by! I’m sure it was just my slow pace at that point compared to her 9:08… oh well.
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| In the hurt locker around mile 25 |
There was one major thought that was running through my mind during those tough miles. Actually it was more of a conversation with myself. You could call it an argument even. It went like this… “Jill…. This pain is nothing. Do you know how much worse this marathon is gonna hurt AFTER swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112?!? Yeah, that’s right. It’s gonna hurt way worse than this. So suck it up and get your @ss to the finish line!!” I think about Ironman Lake Placid daily, and on Sunday, it was my motivation to keep moving, keep one foot in front of the other. That’s one of the lessons I learned in Chicago, to embrace the pain. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it! But it’s not easy to run a marathon and it’s not going to be easy to run a marathon after biking 112 miles!
The one cruel, cruel part about the course is that there is a very evil hill that looks like a mountain literally at mile 26. I slowed down so much and just focused on a quick turnover. It was the punishment for running 25.9 miles of hill-free terrain. Once you get up that hill though, and make a left hand turn… the finish line is in sight! Woohoo! Finally! After 4 hours and 4 minutes I was done!
I gave it my best shot to break 4 hours… I did think the 3rd time would be the charm, but what can you do about abnormally warm weather? Nothing really, so I’m accepting my 4:04 finish time and keeping my head held high.
A special congrats to Kelly who ran her very first marathon and for finishing with a smile! Congrats to BQ as well for toughing out the hot race!!
The one cruel, cruel part about the course is that there is a very evil hill that looks like a mountain literally at mile 26. I slowed down so much and just focused on a quick turnover. It was the punishment for running 25.9 miles of hill-free terrain. Once you get up that hill though, and make a left hand turn… the finish line is in sight! Woohoo! Finally! After 4 hours and 4 minutes I was done!
I gave it my best shot to break 4 hours… I did think the 3rd time would be the charm, but what can you do about abnormally warm weather? Nothing really, so I’m accepting my 4:04 finish time and keeping my head held high.
A special congrats to Kelly who ran her very first marathon and for finishing with a smile! Congrats to BQ as well for toughing out the hot race!!
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| Finished! |
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Lucky
Do you remember the first time you ran a mile? That first 5k race? 10k race? Half marathon? Marathon? Your first triathlon? As I was running my last 10 miles before Chicago, I witnessed quite a few people that were most likely running their very first half marathon. I am lucky enough to call Central Park my training grounds and today was the NYRR Grete's Half Marathon. Two loops of hilly Central Park. I ran the opposite way of the runners so I wouldn't get in their way and I started out much later in the morning than I planned. So the people I saw were the back of the packers, just starting their second loop. Man, this run was filled with inspiration today. There were so many runners that, even though they were finishing way over 2 hours, they had huge smiles on their faces! I saw one woman twice, who must have been over 55 run/walking with 2 arm braces. Each time I saw her she just smiled and smiled some more. I saw blind athletes with their guides, I saw a guy with one leg cruising down cat hill. They were just so happy to be running, racing and completing something that most people wouldn't do. I needed to witness this. In one week and a day, I'll be running my own marathon and recently my attitude hasn't been great. I've been tired, scared, nervous and just not thinking clearly. This run got me to focus.
I think I sometimes miss that feeling. I do feel very, very lucky I am able to swim, bike and especially run. And I always try to remind myself that. But, as I go deeper and deeper into a more permanent triathlon lifestyle, I forget what it's like to just be happy that I'm out running or biking. Or racing a distance for the first time. I get so focused on myself and how I am doing compared to other athletes.
Chicago will be my third marathon. I've been hitting 95% of my workouts and I had a super final long run today. My goal is to break 4 hours. Will I be disappointed if I don't break my barrier? sure... but that disappointment won't last long. I know I will finish the marathon and not many people can say that. Even though I am surrounded by people who swim, bike, run, I know we are in the minority.
So far, today is a good day. Beautiful New York City weather, an inspiring run and I look forward to what else the day will bring!
I think I sometimes miss that feeling. I do feel very, very lucky I am able to swim, bike and especially run. And I always try to remind myself that. But, as I go deeper and deeper into a more permanent triathlon lifestyle, I forget what it's like to just be happy that I'm out running or biking. Or racing a distance for the first time. I get so focused on myself and how I am doing compared to other athletes.
Chicago will be my third marathon. I've been hitting 95% of my workouts and I had a super final long run today. My goal is to break 4 hours. Will I be disappointed if I don't break my barrier? sure... but that disappointment won't last long. I know I will finish the marathon and not many people can say that. Even though I am surrounded by people who swim, bike, run, I know we are in the minority.
So far, today is a good day. Beautiful New York City weather, an inspiring run and I look forward to what else the day will bring!
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