Operation Sparkle Update 6: The days get longer and the heat more intense

I'm sorry to those of you who keep hoping for craft updates. At the moment, I'm working on a quilt for a friend's wedding and until that is finished, I won't be stitching.

 The days are getting longer here in the south. And with them, the heat is getting more intense. And I'm getting slower. I've read enough to know it's all connected. I know that for every 10 degree increase above 70, you should lost about a minute of time. But I'm training. I'm completing my workouts every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to make myself stronger and faster so that come February, I can stop and have a picture or two taken on the course without worrying that I'll suddenly be over the 16 minute/mile pace and in danger of getting pulled from the race I've trained so hard for, looked forward to so expectantly, and paid so much money to get to. I want the shiny objects at the finish line. And to be losing time with each run I'm going on...to not be able to run my full distance...having to stop and walk parts...it's discouraging. It's frustrating. It's annoying.

A runner friend of mine gave me a piece of advice this morning: Keep training through the heat because come fall, I'll be faster for it. And in the back of my mind I know that's true. But the rest of my mind wants to see progress, not backwards sliding. Especially since I'm registered for my Proof of Time 10K at the end of next month, when, barring some weather anomaly, it will be at least this hot if not hotter. So my Proof of Time will be slower than it should be (which, given that I'm getting it more than 6 months in advance, I should hope that is the case).

I guess, all in all, I'm just still not convinced I can do this. Idk. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Maybe I just don't want to count my chickens and all that. Maybe I just don't want to let myself get too excited.

But I know one thing - Saturday I'll be back out on the trail. With a water bottle for hydration. For 6.5 miles, whether I have to jog, walk or crawl.

Until next time.

Operation Sparkle update 5: the glory of a good run

I love this quote...but I want to modify it just a little. Because let's be honest, that first mile is a tiny bit physical. At least for me still. Every morning when I set out, the end of that first mile is me convincing my body that I'm not trying to kill us. Which I guess is mental...but physically you have to be able to run that mile. 

Now the second mile? That second mile is all mental. You can keep going. You can make it to that lamppost, to that street corner, across the street (no cars coming, right?), to that fire hydrant, to that speed limit sign...oh, it's been another mile already? 

The mental game is the one I've been struggling with lately (except Monday's run...Monday was all physical. Hopefully I'll be able to find myself a lighter water bottle to run with this weekend). I just haven't been able to mentally make myself keep going after that first mile. My legs hurt, my breathing is off, I'm tired...i just can't go on. 

But today, today was a momentous day. Because for the first time in a long time, I managed to run from the end of my warmup (the bridge of 'Let it go' -the second song on my playlist) to my cool down point on my route...which is about 2.5 blocks from home. And it was glorious. And I felt amazing. And most of all, I was so proud of myself.

Operation Sparkle Update: I've lost count

Hola readers,

It's been a while. I know. I'm sorry. But it's been CRAZY around here. And so...things have fallen away. Like keeping up with this blog.

But I wanted to take a moment to update Operation Sparkle. Because it's been a while and I have thoughts.

I've started my first training schedule for the Princess Half and so far, it hasn't been terrible. Granted, I've done about a week of it...so that's not saying much. At this point it should have been two weeks but last week my allergies knocked me down for about 6 days. I've only just regained the ability to breathe through my nose and not feel the need to constantly take medication/constantly blow my nose.

Tomorrow I hope to pick it back up. Hopefully a week of couch potato-ing hasn't ruined the progress I'd made. Because I'm feeling a little pudgy at the moment. This week I'm hoping for a total of 9 miles. I've made this goal before, so I see no reason as to why I shouldn't this week. As long as my nose cooperates.

Other than that, life remains busy. As summer approaches, life at grad school gets busy and I'm worried that a looming August deadline will be more than I can handle. But at least I'll have the run to get my anxiety out.

More later.