The Road to Dopey: Week 9(?) - finding the time for training

March Miles to Date: 5
March Average Pace: 13:06 min/mi
2016 Miles to Date: 62.3
Yoga Sessions this week: 0

What up? (Good grief Addie, you can't start a blog that way). Today's post is going to be short because, well, in a shocking turn of events I find myself in an airport. I board in like 20 minutes but I want to give you a Sunday blog.

This week I did my weekly training, bringing my March to date miles to 5 and my year to date to 50-something (blogging on mobile has several limitations, but I'm doing my best). I ran them back to back on Tuesday and Wednesday because I am doing a whole lot of traveling in the next little bit, but I am determined that, unlike last semester when this happened, my training won't suffer the consequences. 

Because of my schedule, my Saturday long run didn't happen. There was no time for 9 miles, but I plan to make it up on Wednesday, which is my next no travel day. That will be my last long run before I run the Bearathon on March 19. Im looking forward to it because on both my runs this week I worked really hard on focusing on pacing (which is something I am terrible at) and I was Doug a pretty good job. Im anxious and excited to try this over a longer distance in hopes of doing a good job on it at the race.

That's really it. Good thoughts while traveling are appreciated. Hopefully I won't have to do this again for a long time (if all goes well). Keep on running.

The Road to Dopey: Week 8 - The Wrap up of a Disappointing February

February Miles to Date: 16.5
February Average Pace: 14:08 min/mi
2016 Miles to Date:57.3
Yoga Sessions this week: 1

Last week, I was unexpectedly taken home to say goodbye to my grandfather. That's why there was no blog. It was sad, and we're all doing better, but it made for a rough week. And that is one of the contributing factors to my February training being disappointing to me. After doing so well in January, it was all too easy for life to derail my training.

I had what seemed like emotional upheaval after emotional upheaval in February. First there was drama with when I can defend my dissertation (I just want to graduate people). Then when I seemed like I got that under control, I got the call about my grandfather and went home to be with my family. This week I had a number of leads in the job hunt, which will be taking me away from home again.

But I'm determined to stick with my training better in March. I have a race in March, after all. I had a time goal for it, but I don't know if I will make it now with the training slump.

Princess was last week and I was vicariously reliving the best weekend in 2015 while watching my friends race via FB. The bling envy definitely helped renew my desire to train for Dopey 2018, but I'm itching to get back to a Disney race sooner than that. Maybe if I get a good job soon, I can think about a 2017 race.

When I saw this quote yesterday, it made me think of my dismal February. I need to keep this in mind when I wake up in the morning and think "I should work on that paper ASAP" and let my running shoes gather dust. I'm going to try and be better about that next month. Hopefully life will let me do it.

The Road to Dopey: Week 6 - A whole lot of nothing

February Miles to Date: 10.5
February Average Pace: 14:10 min/mi
2016 Miles to Date:51.3
Yoga Sessions this week: 0

A whole lot of nothing. That's what I did this week workout wise. This week was really stressful and I'm a little ashamed to come to you having only run 2 miles. But there's was a weird pain in my right foot. It's doing much better and I hope to run more this coming week. Even if I have to go to Ohio in the middle of it for a funeral.

I'm really not thinking a lot today. A LOT happened this past week that was stressful and upsetting and I wish I could have run it out. I just wanted to keep my end of the bargain and check in here. Hopefully my foot feeling better will help me run out the weirdness of this past week.

I'll check in again next week.

<3

The Road to Dopey: Week 5 - The dangers of "used to be"

February Miles to Date: 8.5
February Average Pace: 14:10 min/mi
2016 Miles to Date:49.3
Yoga Sessions this week: 2

Well, we made it through another week. I had to send the super scary "let's pick a date for my dissertation defense" email this week. Terrifying. But let's not talk about that. Let's talk about the things that are going to get me through the stress surrounding defense.

Monday morning I was a bit exhausted from the Miracle Match weekend, so I skipped my Yoga. But by the time I got home Monday night, I felt the need to stretch everything that was sore out. So I did my yoga. Tuesday, I slept in instead of running. I was still sore from the race and I felt a little terrible (cedar has moved into the area...yay allergies). Wednesday, I also skipped the yoga, but Thursday I got up and got out and ran 3 miles, including some hills. And by hills, I mean the pedestrian bridge to the stadium. Its a pretty nice incline. I did 4 repeats of it and then ran back home.

Friday morning I did my yoga and then Friday night I had some friends over, so I didn't do my long run on Saturday, opting to take it easy first thing in the morning and then get most of my work for the weekend done. This morning I did 5.5 miles to the Hamilton soundtrack (I finally caved and bought it and then my friend Davis mentioned he ran to it and I was like "hmmm...I should try that this weekend". It was pretty fantastic. Definitely going to be repeated.

My 5.5 miles was in a time that I used to run 10Ks in. And that made me a little sad. Oh how far I've fallen. I know I can't dwell on the runner I was before science got crazy and I basically stopped training. I will get back to where I was and beyond. That's part of what this road to Dopey is for. In the meantime, I'll put one foot in front of the other and not throw away my shot (Hamilton reference...)

Until next week...I'm gonna go foam roll :)

The Road to Dopey: Week 4 - The First Race of 2016

January Miles: 40.8
Average Pace: 14:32 min/mi
Yoga Sessions this week: 2

January has come to an end. And what a productive month it was. My workout calendar was almost completely marked off for the month! A couple things became clear this month:

1. I don't have to get to school super early every morning. The world will not end if I'm not there until 8 am or later. Case and point? I have not gotten to school before 8 am for the past few weeks and we're all still here. 
2. I have trouble completing my Friday morning yoga. I have a theory about this. My book group meets on Thursday nights and I'm usually out later than I normally go to bed, so when I wake up Friday morning, I'm still a bit sleepy. This week I woke up with enough energy to do my Yoga on Friday, however, but with my race this weekend (which I'll get to in a minute), I didn't want to do it, because sometimes it makes me a little sore.

This week was pretty good training wise (even if it was less than wonderful life wise). My yoga was good and my training runs were great. I have decided to introduce some hill training, which I started Thursday. Now to just find some hills in this flat part of the world.

I had two races this weekend, a repeat of an event I enjoyed last year, called the Phoenix Challenge (part of Miracle Match Race Weekend). The Phoenix Challenge is a 5K on Saturday and then either a half, a full, or an ultra marathon on Sunday. I ran the 5K on Saturday, and purple power led me to a PR! Last year I ran that 5K in a 39:09 and this year I ran a 38:35. Which also means I ran a 12:22 pace (which I haven't done in I can't even tell you how long). It was very exciting because to me, it meant that my consistent training was already showing an improvement in myself.

Sunday, I ran the half, which went less well. I haven't run anything over 4 miles since my half in December, so I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I had those moments around miles 6-10 where everything started to hurt and I had to allow myself to walk more, eventually quitting my intervals all together. This is the point in the race where I usually have to text my unofficial Dopey coach (and accountability buddy) Catie, and she tells me to keep going. This was also the point in the course where the hills got intense...I think there's a correlation there.

Miles 10-13, I was exclusively walking, and I started getting passed by marathon finishers, whose words on encouragement kept me going. In those miles, it was hard to believe that I will join their ranks in less than 2 years time. And with my race the way it was, Miles 10-13 were spent second guessing my decision to even attempt Dopey 2018. 

But I did finish, and I got my bling. The ladder indicates that I also did the Jacob's Ladder Challenge around mile 11. Basically, I climbed up a cliff face. Wasn't easy, but I took a nice little rest when I reached the top and catching my breath there really helped me make it to the finish, I think.

Tomorrow, we start February. Who knows what trials of life and training February holds, but we'll get through it together.

Until then...

The Road to Dopey: Week 3 - The first true test of "Me" time

January MTD: 18.9
Average Pace: 14:01 min/mi
Yoga Sessions: 1

This week was the first true test of my resolution to work toward being my best me for Dopey 2018. Due to some stress at work and home, I really thought that I would be tempted back into my old way of doing things. But I made it out on every single one of my runs this week.

Monday I tried a new yoga routine, which I really enjoyed. It's Yoga for athletes and moves a little faster with slightly more activity than the sequence I was using last week, so I think I'm going to stick with this one for a while. Unfortunately, I only got to do it on Monday because Wednesday and Friday I woke up not feeling the best. I don't know if it's the sudden change in the weather or just general allergy stuffiness, but I hope it goes away soon.

Monday was also the day that work got a little crazy, so Tuesday morning was a true test of my resolve. Except I remembered a little something: I have a free gym right next to the building I work in. Yay Student Fees! So instead of waiting for the sun to rise so I could go running at 7 am, I went to the gym when it opened at 6 am and ran on the track. Not ideal, but better than nothing and a nice compromise for needing to run and feeling like I have to get to work.

Thursday I ran outside, and oh my was it gorgeous! The weather was in the 50s and I ran in a tee shirt! I've missed that kind of weather. Unfortunately, it didn't last, and the temperature in the morning was the warmest it got all day, getting cold and windy. Saturday's run was the complete opposite - COLD! I had on so many layers. Luckily it was only scheduled to be 3 miles. I don't know if I could have done a true long run in that. I probably would have wound up at the gym again.

This week I'm hoping to do my yoga like I'm scheduled to and keep up with my runs. Next weekend is my first race weekend of 2016, with the Phoenix Challenge (5K Saturday, Half on Sunday). I'm a little concerned about the half because I haven't run that far in almost 8 weeks (my last half at the beginning of December). Hopefully my muscles remember something about it.

Until then, run on...

The Road to Dopey: Week 2

January Miles: 11.3

January Pace: 14:18 

Yoga sessions this week: 2

Morning all! This week was the first week of the spring semester and boy was it a doozy. I completed all but one of my workouts though. It took a lot for me to give myself that time every morning, but I did it. And the workout I skipped was mostly from exhaustion, not going into work super early in the morning.

Monday morning's yoga was great, really stretching out everything that had gotten stiff over the weekend. I'm not sure I like the routine I'm using though, so if anyone reading this has video suggestions, let me know.

Tuesday morning's run was amazing. Great pace, great distance, overall I just felt great. Wednesday, the yoga was great again. But Thursday morning I woke up and I just wasn't feeling it. But I've been running long enough to know that the morning's you wake up and don't want to go out are the mornings you have to go out the most. But it was pretty terrible. I walked most of it and didn't go as far as I did on Tuesday. But you have to take the good training runs with the bad. 

Friday was the morning I skipped my yoga. I once again woke up absolutely exhausted and I decided to just take that morning time for myself and sit and watch some TV. Yesterday, I went on a 4-miler, however, and it was fantastic. I felt great and I ran great. Strength training is also going well. I didn't do it before my Thursday run and I'm wondering if that was part of the difference.

I know that part of my exhaustion this week came from work, where we had to move my entire research lab in like, 2 days. While that was taxing, I think part of my waking up exhausted was that I couldn't breathe, with all the dust in the move aggravating my allergies. 

But by far, the hardest part of this week was giving myself the time every morning. It was easier than I thought it would be, but it was also difficult. I would see the time on the clock and think "I need to get going"...but as I predicted, nothing was gone because I waited to go in, and no one was waiting for me to get there. Here's to this week feeling the same.