Journey to Greatness: Runner knows best , it's in the numbers!

MONDAY                       Miles 31
At 12:00, I came home from teaching yoga and realized I had not eaten yet.  DANG I forgot breakfast AGAIN. I eat a salad and a yogurt.  That is nothing.  UGH my muscles will suffer for this…. somehow.  I am sure of it.  Food is so important.  We often don't realize……

My knee feels a little tweaky.  My left knee.  I try to think back to my last day off of running.  I can't remember.  So I am debating on weather or not to take the day off…. from running.  Dislike :(

I go to work out with my trainer and we lift heavy things.  Like :) My numbers are going up.  I am getting stronger.   My resolve to eat enough healthy food, sleep, take care of my body is paying off.  I feel solid… my clothes fit good.  But still I really want to run tonight.  Over training is a problem. And I know it.  It just isn't something I am willing to address yet…… still…. running on a hurt knee…..

Most people who do anything physical with any kind of rigor, understand that pain is inevitable.  At some point, something will hurt.  Half hazard injury, pushing to hard injury, over use injury….. something will hurt.  And most of us know the way we deal with the pain is to ignore it.  If I am still mobile, it's really not that bad.  In my last marathon I tore my hamstring tendon at mile 16.  I went on to finish the race, a better time than last year,  torn right hamstring, sprained ankle, strained my arches in both feet.  I finished the race and then I couldn't run for almost 2 months.  Minor set back.  Of course I was trying to run again in 2 weeks…. I mean, I was mobil…. so….

So what is the right way to handle injury…..how does one prevent overtraining…. how do we stay the course.  I see a lot of new runners over training. The difference between a new runner and a seasoned runner is….. they don't know they are over training…. we ALL do it!  Set the miles too high…. as distance runners we think "the more miles I run the better I will become". This is true and this is not true.  Running makes you better at running. It really is that simple.  But there is something to be said for the quality of the run.  It is not all about quantity…. again with the numbers…… I am scheduled to run 5 miles….  oh but why not 8…. I feel like I can do 8…. I am a distance runner…. I want to do 8…… we have all been there.  What we don't realize is working that 5 to our maximum ability will give our bodies more than running 8 just to run 3 more miles than 5….. yet something in our head disagrees with this…. we need to run 8….. and in doing so, we not only risk injury, we risk not properly building and preparing our muscles to get "running strong" for race day….. Those training plans out there…. they were put together by experts…. they work and they work for a reason!  It is a slow process….. little by little we break down and build up….Our muscles are made to be broken down…..and repair themselves…..that is what makes them stronger……more so it is what our bodies were made to do…...Hippocrates once wrote our bodies are our best physician to disease….. follow the plan, let your body do what it was made to do, get the results.  We know this, still, we run 8 miles.

I have a friend who is an amazing athlete.  Great sports mind set, understands training… always telling me not to over train, follow the plan, stick to the basics.  SURE easy for YOU to say….. you are running 3 hour marathons!  When he has pain he backs off….. when there is a plan he sticks to it….. he remembers that running is his cleansing of the soul, it is his passion, it is when everything is right in the world. He just came in 5th place all around/age division winner of a 50 mile ultra.  He is in his 40s.

The guy at the running store told me, as he handed me my shoes…. when you start to truly love every second of what you do, when it is just for fun…. you will hit your goals.  OK. I think he is a marathon WALKER.  I AM A RUNNER.  It doesn't work that way.  But, it did for my ultra running friend.  Again, I AM A RUNNER, so clearly I know what I am doing! As if merely running qualifies me as the end all be all know ALL about running.  Well… doesn't it? I run….therefore I am…..

Which brings me to this….. for 4 years my trainer has been telling me to train 5ks.  Build muscle.  Don't run so much distance.  OK.  Again.  I AM A RUNNER.  That's what we do.  We run. We      run every race possible, we run half marathons and full marathons back to back to back and we expect to PR at all of them!!!! And when it says 5 we run 8 and when we are hurt we keep going and its not fun its agony and I want to cry and scream and hit something because all I feel is white hot pain searing through my body and I am not meeting my time goals and I feel like I am going to throw up and my legs feel so weak and my shoulders are aching and my throat is so dry and I am dizzy and exhausted and where the F is that finish line,  no really where is it….  wait. I like this?

YES I  REALLY DO!  The first time I finished a half in under 2…… I mean I had trained for it…… but back then I had this awful reflex of halting to a stop at mile 12.5.  I would just panic and come to a dead stop….. what if I don't make it…… And as I was running this particular race….. mile 12.5……dead stop just about to happen…. this song came on….. a song that made me think of my youngest daughter…. a song that made me smile…. and for the first time in a long time….. I kept going….. happily listening to the song, thinking of that baby I love so much and how amazing she was and….. there was the finish and my 2:00:30……. became 1:59:00 and I had finally done it….. and it was life changing! For so long I had wanted that…. worked…hoped….wished….tried…..never believed it would happen…...and then…..it actually happened!  And it changed everything about who I believed I could be.  It changed my place in the race.  It changed my goals.

I digress….. back to my trainer…. who is amazing because he puts up with me…. and I can be difficult, I don't listen until it's too late and I am coming back with an injury promising I will listen….and I don't listen and I am coming back with an injury and….. yet, we still work on my goals, work on making me a better runner…… My trainer is able to look past my short comings of not listening, being a stubborn know it all about running and keep me moving steadily forward.  Never getting frustrated with me and helping me become and achieve what I want to do……telling me to run 5ks…..having a trainer that I can communicate with, that really listens and really focuses on my goals is a gift!   Never the less…... I have decided to meet with a running coach….. just to…. see…… I mean who wants to focus on a 5k…. that is like…. a baby race…..and after a brief exchange with the running coach….…...I am afraid he is going to tell me……rather I know he is going to tell me…..actually he does tell me….via e-mail…... to focus on 5ks…..  right…. this sounds so familiar…. A 5k….. to build muscle and speed….. strong and fast…….to not run so many races….. pick 1 and focus on 1…… and I am annoyed because, well I AM A RUNNER! This 5k thing sounds like a whole lot of not running.    I think I might have to start listening to people……I think I am going to have to train for 5ks….. well maybe a 10k….. I mean I am not just a runner…. I am a distance runner! That's what we do….. We run 8 miles, instead of 5!!!! At 8 minutes a mile……. and there in the numbers….. I might be ready to listen.

Work out
Dead lifts 95 x5, 105 x5, 115 x5
#45, #55, #65
Press 1
Push Press 3
Push Jerk 5
Box jumps x8
1 leg Box jumps 8 each leg
Hang cleans #55
3 miles
yoga

Smoothie
1 cup Coconut water
1 Banana
Apple
tablespoon PB2(powdered peanut butter)
1/2 cup Cherries
1/4 cup Coconut