"I Don't Like Things That Are Stressy"...

This week I've done three 4 mile runs and they didn't totally suck! It has been a long time since I've felt good about all my runs in a week so I'm kind of excited about training right now. Especially since it's been so hard for me to get (and stay) motivated... 

I feel like that's been my MO for the past several training cycles but I'm trying to break out of it. I know that a lot of things can contribute to lack of motivation. For me it's usually when I don't see myself progressing the way I want to... and when I gain weight. And typically the weight gain leads to me feeling slower and sluggish, and then that inhibits my progress and so I feel demotivated, and then I eat a ton of comfort food (cause food = joy), and that leads to more weight gain.... and so it goes on and on and on...

 

Although I did a lot of stress eating this week, it was definitely a good training week. So far I've run Tuesday, Friday and this morning (Saturday), with another run scheduled for tomorrow. On Tuesday I did a solo "focus on how I feel" run...

And then on Friday I did another solo run with longer running intervals (which included running the last mile non-stop)...

And this morning I joined Mimi (from my running group) for the last 4 miles of her eight mile run. We did intervals (run 1 minute: walk 30 seconds)...

It seems like later start times correlated with a faster overall pace. Which makes sense since I haven't been sleeping well (the nightmares are back) so the longer I'm able to stay in bed the more rested my legs are (at least that's what should happen in theory). In addition to the nightmares, this week in general was just a stressful work week...

...so I definitely needed as much rest as I could possibly get. 

Quite fittingly, the warning signs that corresponded with my mood/stress level this week were on display in the hospital's gift shop...

So between my Garmin reminders and the gift shop reminders I'm going to take the hint and try and have a relaxing weekend. 

Over the past 5 days I spent more time trying to map out my training plan for Pittsburgh (maybe that was the main source of stress?)

I'm definitely not a believer that "one plan fits all" and now that I'm entering my fourth marathon training cycle I really want to focus on the ideal components of several plans that work best for me. I'm an injury prone runner with a propensity for blisters so my ideal marathon training plan requires: flexibility, a moderate mileage build-up, a focus on both endurance and strength (i.e. A LOT of cross training and non-impact but simultaneously endurance/strength building activities), and different types of training runs. 

For the last two training cycles (2016:NY marathon training & 2017: Berlin marathon training), all my runs were pretty much the same. The only thing that varied was the distance. For this upcoming training cycle I'm planning for a speed workout every other week (it takes me a long time to recover from speed work so I want to space it out); a tempo run at a 10k - 10k+30s pace every other week; varied interval runs; non-stop runs mid week; hill work... actually change that to mandatory hill work (because the course is hilly especially in the last half of the race); and the ever important long run with an interval build up to running for 5 minutes: walking for 30-45 seconds. 

I really feel like the variety of different runs will keep me from getting bored and help me stay motivated. The diversity in my training plan will also be enhanced by my cross training plans (still tweaking those at the moment but swimming will be a foundational component of my cross training). 

The more I work on modifying the training plan, the more excited about it I become. I really hope (and pray) that I can have a great training cycle and a great race. I know I may not PR, but I definitely want to get as close to my PR as possible. Plus, I'm reserving my PR plans for Chicago in October. Wouldn't it be amazing to break my PR at my first and favorite marathon? Just the thought of it makes me happy. I had to defer my entry from this year to next year so as soon as I get that email confirmation from the race organizers I will start to focus on planning for Chicago as well. 

I'm off to relax, rest my legs, and hydrate (in preparation for tomorrow's run). I hope you have a great weekend!

Anyone racing this weekend?

Do you follow a specific training plan/method or do you create your own?

Is there a race that you love to run every year?