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I have BIG news …

I ran today. And then went to Coffee Loft. But that’s not the big news. I’m sure I fooled you!

My car is full of balloons …

Because Daniel passed boards and is now a certified family nurse practitioner! Woo hoo!

I am beyond proud of his hard work and dedication. He has been working full-time and in school for the past three years and has worked so diligently to study for his boards. His hard work has definitely paid off and I couldn’t be happier for him. He is one of the most caring and compassionate people that I know and I know that he has a great career ahead of him!

So to celebrate, we have lots of balloons and cake! And dinner reservations at a fancy restaurant!

Also in other unrelated, but also great news, our internet is magically back working! Apparently emailing the corporate office is the way to go to get your issue resolved ASAP.

I hope y’all are having an amazing weekend too!

Well hello and welcome to the next installment of my summary of ‘Meb for Mortals.’

This chapter is devoted to how to be your best self physically and mentally on race day. The chapter is broken down into three sections: the warmup, race nutrition and the psychological side of racing.

Warmup

• Don’t stress out if you don’t sleep well the night before the race (because likely, you won’t). Focus on getting good sleep in the week heading into the race.
• No matter how close you like to a race, get up at least 2 hours before start time so that you don’t have to rush and are fully awake when it is time to run hard.
• Have a warmup routine that you know works for you, but don’t get too tied to it in case surprises pop up. You don’t want to go to the start thinking that you can’t race well because your warmup was altered.
• Meb actually does a 3 mile jog before all races (including marathons!), but recommends us mortals to do somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes of running before shorter races and 10 minutes before a marathon.
• He says the main exception for the warmup if it is really hot (hello south AL summertime). It doesn’t take much for your muscles to feel warm and loose, so you can cut back on your normal warmup time or distance.
• After his 3 mile warm up job, he does 10 minutes of stretching and then strides, which are short bursts of speed typically about 100 meters where you accelerate to somewhere around your 5K pace.
• By doing all of this warmup routine, your body is completely ready to go once the race starts and you aren’t spending the first miles of the race getting warmed up.
• I love that Meb says that on the start line, he takes time to calm himself and just be thankful to be there. He says that he is in meditation mode before the gun goes off and that he prays and thinks about how fortunate we are to be able-bodied and to have the opportunity to test ourselves in this way.

Race Nutrition

• Meb recommends learning from others without thinking you need to copy them. Take other people’s advice and see how well it works for you.
• He says that before shorter races (up to half marathons), running out of fuel isn’t really a risk and so you shouldn’t go overboard with carbohydrates the night before. You should mainly stick to your main diet (which hopefully consists of some sufficient amount of carbs to begin with).
• Even for a marathon, he says that he doesn’t agree with the idea of “carb-loading” the night before. He writes that one meals isn’t going to be what determines if you run strong, whereas eating too much could lead to stomach issues or pit stops, as well as interfere with your sleep.
• He actually has a very unique fueling strategy for marathons where he eats very small “snacks” as he wakes up throughout the night the night before the race.
• He recommends taking in 16 to 20 oz. of a sports/electrolyte drink the morning of the race before starting the warmup.
• As far as fueling during the race, he basically alternates between two types of fuel. One is a bottle with “sports drink with carbohydrates and electrolytes” and the other is “sports drink mixed with a caffeinated PowerGel.” So … he didn’t really give us his magic formula. I’ve always wondered what they were drinking in their bottles. I would think that he drinks UCAN during the race, since they are one of his main sponsors, but who knows. The gel in the bottle is an interesting idea (kind of sounds like a stomach disaster waiting to happen in my opinion, but might be at least worth a try).
• He recommends practicing drinking on your long runs, so that it feels normal on race day. He also says to practice with the drink you’ll be using during the marathon. Find out what the race will have on the course (since most of us don’t have the luxury of having our own personalized bottles waiting for us at the aid stations like the elites) and try that out during your long runs. If it doesn’t work for you, you might have to carry your own bottle.
• He also says, start drinking early in the race, and keep at it throughout. Don’t wait until you feel thirsty because by then it is too late and your performance has already begun to suffer.

Psychological Side of Racing

• He says, “Once the gun goes off, racing is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.” Just let that sink in for a minute! Once you start the race, how close you get to racing your best (based on your current fitness) is largely based on making good decisions and staying strong mentally.
• He says one of the most important decisions in a race comes in the first mile. You have to have wisdom and maturity to go out at the right pace and not get sucked into a pace that you can’t sustain due to the adrenaline at the start of the race.
• Once you are under way at a reasonable pace, the mind games begin. Oh the mind games. He recommends having a plan to beat the mind games. His definition of plan is a full set of goals, ranging from A to Z. You need a wide variety of goals to motivate you to keep fighting to the finish. If you only have one or two goals, and you realize mid-race they aren’t attainable that day, they you are adrift and you have no good response when the voice in your head starts asking, “Why am I doing this?” The idea is to find a way to keep a positive spin on whatever the current situation is to keep yourself motivated to giving it your best on that day.
• Not every race is going to be a personal best. But every race, good or bad, can be a learning experience. We often learn the most when things don’t go well. After a race (or workout even) that didn’t go well, figure out what went wrong and use that as a way to improve your performance the next time.

Lots of good stuff here! Hopefully we can all learn something to take with us into our next race. What are y’all training for? I am getting ready for NYC!

Hello friends!

It has been a while since I have managed to get a post up, but I have a decent reason … our darn internet is down. No bueno for blog life. Today, I am coming to you from Coffee Loft (like I needed another reason to hang out here, now I come to get both my coffee and internet fix). We have been down a few days now and according to our lovely service provider, they say that the first available time they can send a technician is August 11th. Um, really?!

I have been trying to settle into a decent routine with my blogging anyway, and this has thrown a major kink into that. I will be going back to work the week after next, but I plan to continue to get at least two or three posts a week done, if not more. I have a few things written up at home on my desktop, but I have no way of accessing those documents online at this point, so today will mainly be a training summary of this week. 15 weeks until NYC!

Monday

I’ve been taking it really easy on Mondays. This week was an off week for our yoga class, so I waited until Monday evening to run, which gave my legs a few extra hours to recover from Sunday’s long-run. Daniel and I did 6 miles at 8:12 pace.

Tuesday 

Tuesday morning I had some hill repeats. The workout called for 12 miles with some 20 second pickups while going up hills. I have a great out and back route for this that basically incorporates one hill per mile, which is perfect. Also theoretically perfect is that there is a bathroom and water fountain at the turn around. Unfortunately it was locked this time, so that didn’t go as planned, but I managed. I did 12 miles at 8:14 average pace with ten 20 second pickups. Check out those hills!

Going into NYC, my biggest concern is the hills at this point. I don’t feel like I race strong on hills. My PR marathon in New Orleans was pancake flat. So, we are gonna work on those hills in the next 15 weeks and hopefully I will build up my hill running muscles (and my brain muscle’s confidence).  Here is what my coach sent me this week regarding the hills, “Yes, there are 5 significant hills on the NYC course: Start – VN bridge – 164′ climb; at 8 miles – LaFayette Av – 53′ climb; at 13 miles – Pulaski Bridge – 45′ climb; at 15 miles – Queensboro Bridge – 120′ climb; at 23 miles – 5th Ave – 80′ climb. So good to do your pick-ups on some hills and incorporate a few moderate hills into your tempo runs.” I love how detailed he is! Fun fact, he is a former corporate accountant turned coach. We share the dork gene 🙂

Tuesday evening was an easy 6.5 mile run at RW. I don’t usually wear my Garmin on my secondary runs. Just take it nice and easy and enjoy the company while getting in a few extra miles.

Wednesday 

Wednesday would typically have been workout day, but my mom and I took a little day trip to Birmingham. She had some errands to do and twisted my arm to come along with the promise of some early birthday shopping (not that I wouldn’t have gone anyway).

I ended up at Foxy Nails III (yes, really) to kill some time while she did her errands. I was a tad skeptical going in, but I’m pretty sure that was the best pedicure I’ve ever had. The girl rubbed my feet for a good 15 to 20 minutes! It was heavenly. I tried to give up pedicures this summer. One, because I figured that was an easy thing to cut out of the budget while I wasn’t really working and two, because of the blisters. I have had really bad blister problems in the past, usually right after a pedicure because they take off all of my hard-earned callouses. Anyway, I fell off the wagon a few times, but overall did better than usual. This one was definitely worth it and I haven’t had any blister issues (knock on wood).

Anyway, the trip to Birmingham made for a long day traveling, but Daniel and I got in an easy 5 miles when I got home.

Thursday

Oh Thursday. I was definitely dreading my workout Thursday. I think I was just tired from traveling, but regardless I was feeling pretty lazy. Brooks shared my sentiments. He actually spent the day Wednesday at a doggie play school, since Daniel and I were both gone all day. He was worn out!

I feel ya buddy! I had 3 X 2 mile repeats on the schedule with a goal range of 6:25 to 6:35. Ick. I successfully procrastinated until about 11 a.m., but finally found my motivation at that point. To the treadmill I went … Here is what I did.

2 mile warmup: starting at 6.0 mph for 2 minutes and increase the speed by .2 every 2 minutes

1st 2 mile repeat: averaged 6:40 (9.0 mph) with .25 mile recovery at 6.0 mph

2nd 2 mile repeat: averaged 6:35 (9.1 mph) with .25 mile recovery at 6.0 mph

3rd 2 mile repeat: averaged 6:30 (9.2 mph) with .25 mile recovery at 6.0 mph

1.5 mile cool down: started the cool down at 6.0 mph for .25 and then kept it at 7.0 mph for the remainder

I started the workout portion a little conservatively, as I wasn’t sure how that pace was going to feel. Overall, I was very pleased with this workout. It was very challenging and I was drenched by the end. I would like to personally thank Nelly for powering me through this workout (think Country Grammar, Ride Wit Me, Hot in Here, etc.).

Thursday evening was an easy Garmin-less 7 mile run with Rebecca and Squishy (aka, the cutest baby ever).

Friday 

Today I did a 8.5 miles at 8:42 pace. And now I am sitting at Coffee Loft talking with you guys, so I guess that catches us up on the training front!

Tomorrow is my training group’s first long-run in their training for Pensacola. They will be doing 8 miles, so I will be running that with them. We have some friends in town this weekend and are planning to go out on the boat for a little while tomorrow afternoon after that. Sunday will be the usual, long-run followed by church and probably some grocery shopping thrown in there somewhere.

I am really hoping that we can get our internet fixed before August 11th! I will be a decade older by then! Ha. But really. I will try to stay in touch periodically regardless. Follow me on Instagram @mobilebayrunner for more frequent updates!

Until then, I’ll be “unplugged” and enjoying time with friends and my last week of “freedom” until the new job starts! Who has fun weekend plans? Tell me about them!

Hello and happy Monday! Today I am going to link up with Tara over at Running ‘n’ Reading for my weekend update.

Hello, hello! Well, this week seems to be flying by and I’ve gotten behind on my blogging. Let’s catch up on training and life!

Monday was a nice easy recovery run and yoga that evening. I feel like I have settled into a good pattern with following my Sunday long run with an easy day and yoga fits in great with that schedule. This week was the last week of our six-week class, but we are starting another session again in two weeks. I’m excited to keep going with it. I can tell that I am more mindful of my breathing in general, and I definitely am doing more stretching (outside of class) that I was before.

So I told y’all last week that we worked on bakasana/crow pose and that if I got it down I would post a picture. We worked on it again this week and after a little practice, this is the result. Ha! I’m getting there. I really wish I had thought to shut my closet (not letting it bother me, not letting it bother me, definitely not doing that pose again …)

Tuesday morning I did an easy run on the treadmill, as I was later getting started than usual. I figured running inside would be the smart thing to do. And then this happened …

I mean really? Puddles of sweat on the treadmill. Our treadmill is not located in the most air-conditioned room and it does tend to get a little bit toasty in there, but I couldn’t believe that it was this bad. I think next time I might just go outside. At least you are creating your own little breeze that way.

Tuesday evening Daniel and I ran some hills! Coach says I gotta get ready for the bridges in NYC. Oh boy.

Wednesday morning, Lizzie and I headed over to Rebecca’s to do part of her long run for the week with her. Her middle eight miles were at marathon pace, and obviously it is better to do that with friends, so we rallied and she killed it!

After our run that morning, I had a short road trip and I was all excited to try out an audio book. The storage on my old phone was completely full (from way too much music), so I had only about five apps downloaded. Since we got our new phones, I feel like I am in a new era. It’s amazing how many things you can actually do with a smart phone. Oh my gosh, you guys, and check this out … Isn’t it beautiful?

I have to give my cousin Erin credit for this one. I mean, I have always color coded my closet, but I had never thought to color categorize my phone. I had them categorized by function before, but this is so much more fun. Sure, I can’t find anything, but it makes me happy while I am searching!

So where was I? Ahh yes, iBooks (which is what I thought was audio books). I downloaded my book the night before and was looking forward to listening to a book in the car, so that I would feel like I am learning something and not just wasting time mindlessly listening/singing to music. I was so sad once I got on the road figured out that my iBook was not going to read itself to me. And now I own a paperback copy of the book and an iBook, so I couldn’t justify buying it again on audio books. I texted Daniel to see if he could believe the travesty and he was all like, yeah I knew that, I was wondering why you were buying an iBook. Perfect, thanks honey 🙂 So back to my road jamz it was. At least I enjoyed myself.

And when I got home last night, I had a Stitch Fix box waiting for me! It’s like Christmas in July! I don’t know how they do it, but I’ve had amazing luck with the things they have sent me. This time I got some boot cut jeans (btw, are those back in style?), a short-sleeved black polka dot top, a sleeveless flowy top, a maxi dress and a black leather tote. I really like all of it. Check it out.

Thursday is usually a double day, but I have a meeting to go to this evening (marathon training kick off for Pensacola!), so I combined my runs this morning. I did five with Daniel before work and then Rebecca and Lizzie came over a little later and we did eight more. And we saw a snake. It slithered right in front of us on the sidewalk. Of course we had to stop and photograph the incident, because you know #bloglife.

Luckily we escaped, and made it home safely.

Daniel and I have really gotten into the Tour de France in the evenings. I’m not a biker at all, and I don’t think I understand half of the rules that they have, but I really enjoy watching it. We’ve been switching between the Tour and the Pan American Games. So many good sporting events to watch … I love it. It is a nice break from our usuals, Shark Tank and The Profit.

Well, I think we are pretty much caught up now, and yes I do realize that was kind of all over the place (hence the name of the post). I hope that your week is flying by as well. Tomorrow is Friday, so that’s the good news! I’m off to meet the members of my training group! Gotta run!

As promised, here is the next installment of my ‘Meb for Mortals’ summary … Training.

There was a lot of good information in this chapter and I tried to pick out things that really stuck out to me (i.e., things that I probably don’t always do or needed to be reminded of or just things that I thought were interesting).

• It is better to be undertrained than overtrained. We have to learn to tell the difference between acceptable short-term fatigue and the lingering fatigue that can lead to performance decreases and injury. One of the most challenging things about marathon training can definitely be getting to the start line healthy.
• You should leave a workout being able to do more. Save the racing for race day. Any guys out there reading this? That one is for you 🙂
• Always based your training goals on where you are now. Don’t try to mimic what you read or hear others are doing – you don’t know how long it took them to get to that level. By regularly aiming a little higher, you can keep progressing. This one is definitely tough. It is so easy to compare yourself to others or to where you were at a different time or stage in life, but that won’t change where you are now. All you can do now is keep putting in the hard work and be your best self today.
• Perhaps more than any other sport, running rewards regularity. Implicit in patiently making small amounts of progress is training consistently. If you struggle with consistency, get some training partners. Making yourself accountable to others is a sign of commitment. I highly, highly recommend training with other people! Running with other people has totally transformed my running.
• Most elite runners run twice a day most days of the week. Doing so is a better way to run high mileage than aiming for the same volume one run a week, because you space out the pounding and can get more of a training effect. You lower your injury risk because you are spreading out the pounding over the course of the day. Another good day for doubling is a recovery day. In a situation where you are doing a track workout on a Tuesday night after work, and then getting up early the next morning to run 10 miles before work. That’s cramming a lot of work into a short period of time.
• If you are getting ready for a longer race, such as a half or a marathon, then he doesn’t suggest doing a lot of doubles until you are running at least 55 miles per week, because for those type of races you want the strength that comes from longer once-a-day runs.
• You’ll make greater gains in fitness by mixing things up, with different days having different emphases, as opposed to running the same distance and same pace every run. Variety in how far and how hard you run keeps things interesting, meaning that you’ll be more motivated to be consistent. Running faster some days and slower will mean that you will run with slightly different form. Running longer some days and shorter others will mean that on some days you will have less pounding. Running hilly courses some days and flatter courses others, or on hard surfaces some days and soft surfaces others, will cause you to use different muscles. Reducing the repeated stress is the key to reducing injury.
• The various types of runs that he does (or has done at some point over the course of his career) are the following: long runs, tempo runs, interval workouts, recovery runs, fartleks, striders, hill repeats and altitude training.
• In a good marathon training cycle, he recommends getting several runs of more than 20 miles and building your long run by a couple of miles each week so that by race day, you’ve gone longer than 20 miles a few times.
• Long runs are primarily about covering the distance and should leave you pleasantly tired, but not exhausted. You shouldn’t feel beat up the day after your long run. He recommends taking at least 1 recovery day after, where you run easy without a lot of soreness or stiffness. Long runs are important even if you’re not training for a marathon. All runners benefit from improving their endurance.
• Key workouts aren’t assigned a specific day of the week. They should be done on the days that make the most sense in conjunction with the rest of your schedule. The important thing is to allow recovery days between them – don’t follow a long run with an interval workout, or a tempo run with a long run.

Good stuff! Hopefully you learned something or read something that you needed to be reminded of.

Gotta run!

As per usual, today was long-run day. I had an 18 mile long-run on the schedule with a goal pace of 7:30 to 7:50. What I actually did was …

I didn’t quite get the pace that I was supposed to, but I was still very pleased with this run! Given the conditions that we live with here on the gulf coast during the summer, I’ll definitely take it. I made a last minute decision on the fueling for the run, which wasn’t really all that smart. Smart to fuel, yes. Not smart to have not planned it out better. I drank UCAN on the way to the run, when I really should’ve had it an hour or so before we started (it is a time released source of glucose). My pace was definitely fading mid-way through the run, but once the UCAN got into my system, I pepped up and finished the run strong. I really like using the UCAN packets pre-run, because one pouch will sustain you for an entire long run and you don’t have to carry gels. I still get water along the way from random water fountains, bathrooms, spickets on the side of the buildings, etc. but not having to carry gels or a bottle is so nice.

Post-run coffee loft hangs.

And now, onto the main event here, which is my “review” of ‘Meb for Mortals.’ The word review here is probably not accurate though, as it will be more of a summary. I have a very systematic approach when I read non-fiction books. The first step is to actually read the book. The second step is to go back with a highlighter (and a straight edge, obviously) and mark different things that stood out to me. The last step is to make an outline of the book and type out the things that I highlighted. I know this seems overkill and probably is, but I take away so much more from a book if I do it this way. I can read a book in no time, but I have a much greater chance of learning and retaining the information if I do it this way.

The purpose of ‘Meb for Mortals’ is to show everyday (i.e., mortal) runners how to put into practice the training, nutritional and mental principles that Meb has used throughout his amazing career, which includes an Olympic silver medal in 2004 and winning the 2009 New York City Marathon and the 2014 Boston Marathon.

I’ve had people ask me before why I like running so much or how I fell in love with running. It is almost difficult to answer that if the person doesn’t “get it.” There is an awesome quote in the book that I feel like perfectly conveys my love of running. He writes, “If you’re like me, you appreciate how running improves your life. You like how you feel while you’re running and after a run. You like being healthier and more in control of your destiny. You like the camaraderie and the time alone. You like being outside enjoying nature. You like pushing yourself and the satisfaction that comes from working toward a goal. You like how clear-cut it is, how you get out of it what you put into it. You like that you get to do it on your terms, as casually or seriously as you want. You simply like telling yourself, “I’m a runner.””

Um, 1,000 times yes! I’m sure a lot of runners can identify and would agree that is why we run.

So, here are some things about ‘Meb for Mortals’ that stood out to me that I thought will be useful to retain.

Meb has three principles that he applies for success in life and in running: good goals, commitment, and hard work. Note that only one of those items is physical (the hard work) and that the other two are psychological. That goes to show us just how important the mental side of running is.

Good Goals

• Running is well suited to goal setting, because your progress can be quantified and tracked.
• A good goal should have personal meaning. It should be something you want to do for yourself, not just to meet someone else’s expectations. He says, “Let your running be about your own hopes and dreams.”
• A good goal is specific. Goals such as I want to run well or run faster are more subjective and harder to measure, which also means that you might not feel as accomplished when you progress towards the ambiguous goal.
• A good goal is challenging but realistic, requiring you to reach outside of your comfort zone but staying within the realm of possibility.
• A good goal has a time limit. He notes that 3 to 6 months is a good range for most running goals, but also recommends setting yearly and longer-term goals as well. He suggests that you keep track of your training with a log so that you can evaluate your progress each week and stay focused on your goals.
• He recommends having several goals going into a race, staring with your ultimate goal and working downward to several other potential outcomes that would also still be worthy accomplishments.

Commitment

• He says that having a good goal is the first step and that the hard work is how you reach that goal, but the hard work doesn’t just happen because you have a goal. It comes through commitment.
• He says that commitment means living your life in a way that makes you better prepared to meet your goals. This comes by regularly making decisions that contribute to, rather than detract from, your goals.
• He talks in terms of making choices, not sacrifices. He says that the word sacrifice has a negative connotation and that thinking that you are denying yourself of something can make your goals feel more like burdens. He says that choice has a connotation of working towards something that is important to you. Thinking of your decisions as choices, not sacrifices, gives the feeling that you’re in control.
• He writes, “Just as the marathon is about patience, life is about overcoming obstacles and having patience. Marathons and other successes teach us delayed gratification. The journey sometimes brings out the best in us. Start with one step at a time, then 1 mile at a time, and you will see how far you can go.”
• Success comes from peace of mind, knowing that you have given it your all and done your best.

Hard Work (I plan to break up this final principle, which is where a lot of the meat of this book is, into separate posts).

• Training
• Racing
• Fueling
• Strengthening, stretching and cross-training
• Recovering

What goals are you working towards currently? I’d love to hear about them!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Last time I left you, I was on a mission to read ‘Meb for Mortals.’ Well, I spent some time here …

and finished that up yesterday. I will be coming at you with a summary very soon. I found the book to be very easy to read and very informative. There were lots of little helpful nuggets in there that I definitely want to try to incorporate into my training and that I think will also be helpful in my coaching.

Let’s see what else has been going on in the meantime …

I made some Blue Apron New England style shrimp salad. This one wasn’t our favorite, but it wasn’t terrible. We have access to really fresh seafood locally, so I don’t think there was any way this could’ve lived up to our expectations. That and I think I put a tad much tabasco in it. They sent what had to have been the world’s tiniest bottle of tabasco and said add as much as you’d like, so I figured that I would just use the whole bottle. Oh well. You live. You learn.

Daniel and I joined Rebecca for an easy 5 miles Thursday evening and then headed over to Manci’s in downtown Daphne for dinner. The restaurant was once somewhat of a historical landmark in the area and was known for its seafood poboys and burgers (which were featured in Southern Living and Coastal Living magazines as well as on Diners, Drive-In’s & Dives). It has recently opened back up under new management and they have done some renovations, but have kept a lot of the original atmosphere. We like it because we can go sit outside on the porch post-run. Case in point.

We also recently got a Chicken Salad Chick here locally. They have locations all over the southeast, and it was founded in Auburn. I had never been to one, but my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law absolutely love it, so I was eager to try it out.

I got Daniel the “Buffalo Barclay” because the description said, “Craving wings? This is definitely the choice for you.” He isn’t really a chicken salad kind of guy, but I figured that if I brought home something that allegedly tasted like wings he would be more inclined to try it. I tried the “Luau Lydia” with pineapple & macadamia nuts. They were both excellent! There are so many more flavors to choose from that we will definitely have to go back.

This morning, my mom and I set out on an “adventure” walk to get coffee.

6 miles and two iced coffees later, we had to call a taxi (i.e., my dad) to come take us home. He picked us up in the boat and we tootled home, looking at the piers, birds, etc. The bay was full of seagulls, pelicans and porpoise! I tried to get a good picture of the porpoise, but was not successful with that today. Sometimes we can drive slowly through their feeding spot and they will stop and follow along behind our wake, jumping and playing, but they didn’t do that today. I did get a pretty decent shot of a pelican diving down for a fish though.

My dad said that I needed to show this picture to my training group and tell them that they needed to follow along and dive head first into marathon training. Yes! Love it.

I hope y’all are enjoying your weekend! Gotta run!

Let’s catch up with what has been going on since we last talked …

Monday I decided to get a massage, which is definitely NOT a normal thing for me. In fact, I haven’t had one in over 3 years I am fairly certain. It only seemed fitting after my post about anxiety that I do something relaxing though. I actually had a gift certificate that Daniel gave me for Christmas in 2013 that I had never used (relax much?), and even though it had an expiration date, thankfully they still let me use it. I’m not really big on having strangers touch me, but I actually found the whole experience to be very nice and VERY relaxing. I was not ready for it to be over!

After that, I headed to my “yoga for runners” class at RW. I was so zen by the end of this day! The classes seem to be getting a little big more challenging each week and this week we learned the crow pose. We have mainly just been doing more stretching type of things before this, so I was excited to try something challenging (not that I can do the stretching poses at all, but still). Here’s what it theoretically looks like (and no, this isn’t me).

Maybe next week I will have it mastered and can get a picture. I wouldn’t count too much on that though.

Tuesday was a double run day. I did a humid, hilly run that morning. As I was running, I had a revelation that when you combine humidity and hills you literally end up with humility. The total elevation gain for my run was just under 500 feet, which probably isn’t much to some of you out there, but for lower AL, that is a hilly run! I tend to avoid hills at all cost, but I know that they will make me stronger and I’m going to have to run a few of them in New York so might as well get to it.

Tuesday evening was the usual group run at RW. I met at the store a little early to discuss the marathon training group that I will be leading (eek!). The official kickoff is next Thursday and the group will be training for the Pensacola Marathon on November 8th. I am really looking forward to this. Runners are awesome in general, so I know we will have a fun group and I can’t wait to get to know everyone and hopefully help them reach their marathon goals. After the meeting, we ran an easy 6 miles. Lizzie, Rebecca, Savannah and I after the run (i.e., sweaty and happy) …

And today we are back to workout Wednesday! Today’s workout was a 3 mile warm up, 5 mile tempo, and a 3 mile cool down. My goal range for the tempo portion was 6:30 to 6:35 pace.

A tempo run is a faster-paced workout also known as a lactate-threshold (LT) run. Tempo pace should be “comfortably hard.” Tempo running improves a crucial physiological variable for running success, our metabolic fitness, by increasing your LT, or the point at which the body fatigues at a certain pace. During tempo runs, lactate and hydrogen ions—by-products of metabolism—are released into the muscles. The ions make the muscles acidic, and eventually lead to fatigue. The better trained you become, the higher you push your “threshold,” meaning your muscles become better at using these by-products. The result is less-acidic muscles (that is, muscles that haven’t reached their new “threshold”), so they keep on contracting, letting you run farther and faster.

My actual paces for the tempo portion were 6:35, 6:35, 6:33, 6:29, 6:25. I was very pleasantly surprised that I was able to hit these paces! I had already checked the temperature and humidity this morning and had my adjusted pace ready to go if I needed a “B” goal for the workout. If you missed my post on that, check it out here.

Next week is 16 weeks out from the NYC Marathon (November 1st)! This is the race that I will be training for (while the group I am leading trains for Pensacola), so my “official” training is going to be getting started next week. I’ll probably do some weekly training summary posts just to keep it organized and be able to look back on my workouts and mileage totals for the next race I train for. I enjoy reading those types of posts from other people, so hopefully y’all will find it interesting as well (or at least the runners out there that are reading will).

That’s all I’ve got for now. I am fixing to spend some time with Meb (unfortunately via his book and not in real life) and learn how to run, think and eat like a champion marathoner. Sounds intriguing, no? I will let you know what I find out 🙂

Gotta run!

Alright y’all, in an effort to #keepitreal here, I’m going to do a post about anxiety. I know I mentioned in the About Me section of my blog that I am an introvert, but for those of you who may have missed that, I’ll say it again. I am introverted. In fact, I have a strong preference of introversion over extraversion (78% to be exact (and I successfully resisted the urge to round that up to a nice round number like 80% for you)). I am currently reading a book called ‘Gaining, The Truth about Life after Eating Disorders’ and I have learned so much from it. Here are some things that are on point with what I am trying to convey in this post.

Everyone experiences three interlocking lives, which together shape his or her individual sense of identity.

• The first is an inner life of emotions, sensations and imagination.
• The second is lived through relationships with family and friends.
• The third is experienced through culture and society.

Ideally, these three lives develop like concentric circles, with one’s inner self secured in the center, strengthened by close relationships and able to respond independently to culture. Well, people who develop eating disorders live “out-of-order” so to speak. They have difficulty trusting their instincts, their relationships make them feel anxious and so instead of engaging with the outer world from a position of internal strength, they substitute the demands of media culture for their core beliefs and in effect, live “outside in.” As a side note here, I haven’t seen the new Pixar movie ‘Inside Out,’ but I’ve heard that it is really good and is very psychologically based. I am guessing that it is touching on this very concept. I really want to see it!

Gaining back a full, healthy life in the wake of an eating disorder is largely a process of restoring these circles to their rightful order. The first challenge is to learn and respect who you are, your biology, your calling, your temperament. Being introverted is a big part of my make up and so I am trying to be more mindful of that and truly understand how it makes me who I am and learn how to deal with the issues that arise because of it. Check out this article about introverts. If you are introverted, you will be all like “Yes!” at least 10 times.

Last week I had a baby shower to go to. Well, I went and I am so glad that I did, but getting there was a really big struggle.

I love my small group girls, but social interaction in a purely social setting (i.e., a baby showers, wedding showers, class reunions, etc.) majorly stresses me out. See #2 in above-referenced article regarding small talk. I came up with so many good (in my head) excuses that I didn’t need to go to the shower … the power *almost* went out, I need to spend some quality time with Daniel (even though he made plans to hang out with the guys in the group during the shower), I really need to cook that last Blue Apron meal or it is going to go bad, we have so. much. laundry to do, didn’t I maybe have a root canal scheduled this evening? You get the point, I was having some major anxiety.

The solution in this case was not that I was able to eliminate the anxiety, but I was able to somewhat manage it. Through some prayer, self pep talks and encouraging texts from Daniel, I decided to go to the shower and I survived, even enjoyed myself! The big step for me was to not just avoid the situation because of my anxiety, but to face it head on.

I’m not going to get into all of the genetic, chemical components of anxiety and depression here (just because this post is already getting way too long), other than just to say that they are actual imbalances in serotonin levels. Normally serotonin helps us to regulate our mood, anxiety, appetites, etc., but the chemical becomes active in the face of danger as it triggers the fight-or-flight instinct. It heightens fear. People with high serotonin levels can get stuck in freeze, fight or flight mode, even when not under any actual threat, which causes a constant state of anxiety. So, with all that being said, you might be able to “get through” depression or anxiety on your own, but there is no shame in taking medication for these medical conditions. Stoicism is not a ticket to health or happiness.

One lie that I think many of us might believe is that a good Christian doesn’t ever feel anxious or depressed. We feel like negative or painful emotions are signs of a weak faith. The danger here is that we can end up numbing our emotions so that we do not feel anything “bad.” It is natural for us to have negative reactions to painful things and problems in our life. Jesus himself felt anxiety. Mark 14:32-34 says, “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them.” The key here is Jesus’ reaction to the anxiety He was feeling was to PRAY. And this is where my post about anxiety perfectly segues into our sermon at church yesterday about prayer …

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

This week we looked at the second part of Chapter 3. Here are my takeaways:

• Prayer is personal. You are in the presence of the Almighty. Surrender to Him. God wants to do as much in you as you want Him to do for you.
• Prayer is relational. You have a relationship with Christ. It is a Father/child relationship, a familial relationship and a friend relationship.
• Prayer is asking and expecting. James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” God answers all prayers. The answer may be 1) yes, 2) no, 3) yes, but later or 4) something different, something better than you could’ve even imagined. The more consistently we pray and talk with God, the more in line our requests will be with God’s will and the more “yes” responses we will receive.
• Prayer is yearning. Ephesians 3:17-19 says, “… so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” When we are saved, the Holy Spirit moves into our hearts and resides in us. We are the dwelling place of God and He goes to work in us. Our identity is found in our roots and in the love of Christ. We grow our roots through prayer and we need strong roots so that when the wind blows, we don’t fall over; when circumstances in our lives are difficult and hard to handle, we are able to endure.
• Prayer is revealing. Prayer allows God to reveal His glory in our lives. He will shine His light of truth and authenticity on us. Our sinful nature causes us to retreat and we naturally want to cover our sins, but He knows us and loves us anyway. He knows our weaknesses, our fears and our insecurities. You can’t hide anything from God, but if we only pray every now and then, we aren’t exposed to the light enough to stop acting on your sinful nature.

So in summary, we need to be able to answer the question, “Who am I?” And the best way to find the answer to this question is in the presence of God through prayer. Ask Him to grow you in the midst of whatever current struggles you have and take all of your fears and anxieties to Him and let Him wrap you up in His cocoon of peace.

Whew. If you made it all the way through that, bless you. Anyone else out there struggle with anxiety or identify with the characteristics of introverts in that article?