The Happiness Project...

Too often I've found myself faced with disappointments. Whether that be with performance, or pace, or how my legs feel during/after a run etc. I know that's not unique to me as a runner (we've all been there at one point or another) but I've definitely dealt with them often and, it seems, with increased frequency recently.

To be fair, it is entirely possible that my unwavering commitment to elevated expectations is directly proportionally to the frequency with which I am disappointed. And some would say that an "expect nothing" philosophy would unburden me of the daunting weight of unmet goals. But if I approached my running (or my life) with that view... what would be the point? Yes, I want to be happy with my running, but I am most happy when I meet the running goals I set for myself.

That being said... I decided to cancel the Chicago Marathon this year.

The decision was not easy (although I have to admit it became a lot easier when I remembered how much I suffered with blisters during Summer training last year). But once I made it... and cancelled my hotel reservation... I was sure it was the best decision for me.

The reality is my body needs a break and I refuse to have another disappointing marathon experience. I've trained hard for all of the marathons I've done and my current statistics do not contain the type of motivation and encouragement I need to start training for another one (at least not right now):
# of full marathons completed: 4
# of marathon training cycles with injuries: 3
# of marathon finishes over six hours: 3
# of marathons where I got injured on the course: 3
# of times those injuries included my left knee: 3
# of times I cried after the marathon was over: 2
# of times I cried during the marathon: 4
# of marathons I still want to complete (Plan A goal): 22
# of marathons to reach my Plan B goal: 9
# of marathons to reach my Plan C goal: 3

The 2018 Chicago Marathon would have been my 5th marathon and a good option for a marathon PR (since everything about the event is amazing)... but I need a break.

So instead of focusing on a Fall full marathon I've decided to focus on a Fall half marathon and aim for a PR at that distance. This goal is now the mission of my Happiness (running) Project for 2018. On my way to achieving a half PR, I've also decided to throw in a 10K PR, a 15K PR, some goals for strength training and swimming, and an optimistic (while still being healthy) goal range for weight and body fat %.

I've got 7 months to get all that done... let the challenge begin!

Training restarts next week (as in the week starting on Monday May 21st) and I've tentatively created a diverse plan for myself as a starting point to what the rest of the year is going to look like. There are a lot more cross training activities included in the plan (each one with a different goal) and I'm limiting my running days to 3 days per week. I'm still going to do my group runs with my running BFFs Mimi and Suzanne as they train for Chicago, but I'll do less mileage for the long runs (since I'm focusing on a half marathon PR).

2019 will come with its own set of goals (and yes, I'm already planning for what next year will look like), a lot of which will depend on if I get into the London (or Tokyo) marathon. I'm really hoping for London since it will give me more time to train and would be less likely to disrupt my revised goals/plans for 2018. Because I always have a Plan B... I contemplated trying to get a marathon PR at Big Sur if I didn't get into London (but I revised those thoughts when I read the course description... I'm not a fan of hills right now). Then I thought about the New Jersey marathon (which is the same weekend so training would be the same), or even the Prague marathon (on the first weekend in May).

I still haven't decided.

One thing I do know is that the next time I start training for a full the goal will be to PR (not just finish), and as a result the choice of event will be significantly impacted by course difficulty, weather, and the potential for an overall amazing race experience. Training for "lucky marathon #5" will also be designed to my specific needs... which I'm about 90% 75% sure I'm fully knowledgeable of.

Anyway, for right now my focus is on getting stronger, faster, and healthier... and earning my half marathon PR. All that's left to do is pick a goal race (in December).

What does the rest of 2018 look like for you?

Have you ever had to start from scratch with your training?

What was your favorite half marathon?

This Is The Year...

I'm declaring my marathon PR from now. I'm not going to let my own self-doubts (that are sure to creep up) stop me. I'm not going to let the (ridiculous) negative comments from people stop me. And I'm not going to let the fact that the pace I need for my PR goal (which I have not seen/sustained for a while) stop me. This is the year of my marathon PR. One of many probably hopefully.

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2015 was a good (albeit injury filled year) for running, and 2017 showed good promise for the shorter distances...

But 2018? Well this year is the year that surpasses all other years. This is the year of PRs! The year of my running goals. The year that I take back the passion and dedication that I allowed to get lost in the abyss of doubts, demands, and declining commitment. 

It's going to be a GREAT year. I can just feel it!

What are you looking forward to this year?

Do you have any specific goals for your running/training?

Do you love The Awkward Yeti comics as much as I do?

"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?

Reactions, Losses & Deferments

There have been lots of changes to my 2017 running plan in the past few weeks 😔. If you read my last post you already know that my running streak is over. The last time I ran was July 12th, so it's been over a week since I've been out there on the road...

I ended up going to see my orthopedic surgeon and he did a quick check of my leg/ankle and told me I definitely have a "stress reaction" but I needed an x-ray to rule out a stress fracture. Fortunately the x-ray was negative (i.e. no fracture seen) but I still had a left medial tibia stress reaction.

A stress reaction is what the bone undergoes before a stress fracture occurs. Which means if I had continued to run through the pain I would have ended up with a stress fracture... 

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Typically stress fractures require a minimum of 4-6 weeks off of running/other impact activities. The recovery time for stress reactions is much less (thankfully) and so I was told to take 2-3 weeks off. 

Fortunately while I'm off running I got the clearance to continue my marathon training on the elliptical and rowing machine, or with cycling, swimming and/or pool running. The variety is key since in isolation none of those activities provide the same amount of thrill as running does. I'm trying to stay focused on the fact that I can still train, because in the grand scheme of things this is a setback but not a road block.

In addition to losing my running privileges for the next few weeks I also lost my wisdom teeth (all four) yesterday. So since yesterday morning I've been dealing with pain and swelling and trying to drink my calories. You don't realize how much you love chewing food until that exact moment when you can't 😩. My wisdom teeth weren't impacted but were causing crowding and needed to come out in preparation for the braces I'm getting next month. Because they weren't impacted I think the worst of the pain is over, despite the swelling being worse today. The pain and swelling are forcing me to stay in bed and take it easy, so that's been benefiting my leg as well...

With all the recent changes to my training plan and mandatory rest days that I've had to take, I made the difficult decision to defer my Chicago Marathon entry until 2018...

The plan to run both Berlin and Chicago was a tough feat to begin with. One which required an ideal training cycle without injuries. Even before my injury my training wasn't going according to plan, so there's no way I'm going to be ready for two back-to-back marathons. As much as I love Chicago and the marathon (it was my first after all) I've never done Berlin before, and the Berlin trip is already paid for (and 100% non-refundable). I'm going to lose the money I paid for the Chicago Marathon registration but I can cancel the hotel and I didn't book my airline tickets so deferring Chicago was the most logical decision. I'm still bummed about it but... it could be worse right?

So between my stress reaction, the loss of my wisdom teeth and my Chicago Marathon deferment, the past week has been busy. I'm taking it easy tomorrow as well (although I plan to go into work) and then hopefully I'll be back in the gym doing my non-impact cross training on Saturday...

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What's your favorite non-impact cross training activity?

Have you ever had to defer a major race?

Do you still have your wisdom teeth?

I Spoke Too Soon...

I'm currently nursing a minor ankle sprain so training has taken a nosedive. For the past week I've only been able to manage my one mile runs to keep up the running streak...

So I'm spending my days icing my ankle and trying to figure out how to modify my training so that I can still prepare for my Fall marathons. 

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of wiggle room in my training plan because I've had to make a few changes to accommodate family related travel. So I may be forced to break up my runs and/or cross train more so that I don't suffer too much of a long term negative impact from the reduction in miles.

The goal is (and will always be) getting through both marathons safely. So sadly that may mean the end of my running streak so that I can avoid the high impact stuff and focus on strength training and endurance training through other activities.

I'm a little bummed when I think about the possibility of having to stop the streak (as you can imagine) but I'm trying to think of the big picture. It's been more than half the year and therefore my longest running streak ever. But at the end of the day, the marathons are more important, and I can always try and do the streak again some other time.

I'll keep everyone posted. In the meantime please send happy healing thoughts for my ankle to feel better soon 😊.

How is your training going?

How long is/was your longest running streak?

What's your favorite cross training activity when you can't run?

Finally A Good Training Week!

This week's training was pretty decent. I got through all my scheduled running mileage (except for one run that I cut short) and a strength training session. I haven't done any swimming yet but I'm hoping to do that tomorrow. This morning I did 12 miles for my long run. I was the only one in my running group that was scheduled for anything over 8 miles so I ran 4 miles by myself and then 8 miles with my group...

And I decided to try hydrating with my new addiction...

I put my hydration pack (filled with coconut water) in the freezer overnight so it was ice-cold for my run this morning. It was amazing!!! It's hard to find the right hydration balance for humid runs because you want to ensure you're getting enough fluid, without putting yourself at risk of nausea and vomiting because your stomach is too full. Recently plain water has been making me nauseous, but the coconut water this morning was perfect. 

My Legs Need Ginkgo...

I recently started taking Ginkgo Biloba because my memory really sucks. A lot of that is probably due to stress (actually, 99% of that is probably due to stress). And the fact that my brain does a lot of triaging when it comes to my memories and sadly not a lot of information meets the "this is important to remember" threshold (even when it is important). It's usually not too much of a problem because I make notes and send myself emails and calendar reminders so I don't forget to do things. But there are times when it is a huge problem... like when I woke up one morning and completely forgot what my iPhone password was. Aaaaand I entered the wrong one so many times that my phone got disabled. Aaaaaand I didn't remember what my iCloud password was because I made a note of it in my iPhone.

The memory issues aren't new. I've always had a bad memory (at least as far back as I can remember). But it's been getting progressively worse and I think it's starting to affect other areas of my body, like my legs. I mean, that's the only logical conclusion I can make because my legs seem to have forgotten what marathon training is actually like!

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This week marks the third week of Berlin Marathon Training (which is also the first week of Chicago Marathon training) and things are NOT going well. The first two weeks of training have come and gone and I feel LESS fit now than I did before I started. I know that the humidity certainly doesn't help with my pace (it's been insanely humid recently) but I'm also getting nauseous and vomiting after my runs... my legs constantly feel tired and heavy... and I'm always hungry even though (believe me) I have not been running that much.

Time Will Tell...

Ragnar training is exhausting...

Today I ran a 10K at my goal pace of 11:30 min/mile...

And tomorrow the plan is to run another 10K (at a minimum) with a goal pace of sub-12 min/mile; because the best way to train for Ragnar is to simulate the back-to-back long runs that will take place during the actual race. My legs will be tired but I'm more concerned about the blisters on my feet 😒. Plus, for the last few weekends my "plans" for long runs haven't quite worked out the way I've wanted them to. So I'm being cautiously optimistic about tomorrow.

May is definitely going to be a busy month because I have three events... and two of them are on the same day! Both the Wings for Life World Run and Swim Miami are on May 7th...

Training for Wings for Life and Swim Miami are all a part of my training for Ragnar Niagara (which is a few weeks after) and will hopefully give me a good base for when I start marathon training at the end of May.

I have a tentative Berlin-to-Chicago marathon training plan in mind which will allow me to practice only having a week off in between long runs (which is how far apart the two marathons are this year). The training plan calls for 4 days of running (Tues, Wed, Thurs & Sat). However, because I am doing a running streak this year I'm going to decrease the assigned mileage for the Tuesday-Thursday runs by one mile each day. So since week 1 of the training calls for 19 miles broken up over 4 runs...

I'll change that to 19 miles broken up over 7 runs...

Spreading things out a bit will also ensure that I don't overdo it and help me stick to the plan (at least that's my goal). Sundays will be my swimming days and I will try and do strength training on Tuesday and Thursday. This will allow me to have both Monday and Friday as my "easy" days (which seems like the best approach for the beginning and end of my work week). So ultimately my Week 1 of marathon training will look something like this...

What do you guys think of my proposed training plan?

How was your training this week?

What are your plans for the weekend?

When You Have Less Than Thirty Days...

I woke up this morning and realized that I'm at the "less than thirty" point in my marathon training...

So, with that looming over my head (and Hurricane Matthew out of the way) I decided to go for a run...

It's been a while since I've been able to run at a sub-12 min/mile pace for five miles, especially since I included some "hill work" in this run...

It's not much of an elevation but this is the closest I'm able to get to hill work right now. Where I live is as flat as a pancake and the highway overpass near my house is the closest thing I have to a hill. 

Thirty Two...

While the rest of the city goes into panic mode and finishes all the gas at the local gas stations, I'm monitoring Hurricane Matthew primarily to figure out how many of my training runs will have to be rescheduled due to storm conditions...

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"Please let the weather be good. Please let the weather be good. Please let the weather be good"

It's not surprising that I'm still focused on running and marathon training because apparently that's all I talk about...

(and considering how often I mention Garmin I'm surprised they haven't made me a brand ambassador yet... 

even after I wrote them such a lovely letter).

In thirty two days I'll be running through the boroughs of New York City, taking in the sights and sounds of the Big Apple, and hoping that my training and the last several months of preparations will get me through the race injury free. 

New Decor and *Random* Updates...

I decided to change my medal display and showcase my race bling a little better...

There are 5 medals that didn't "make the wall" because I didn't buy enough Keys. I need to get at least two more (and eventually run more races) so that all the medals can be displayed evenly on each side of the marathon plaque. The Chicago Marathon photo plaque came in the mail yesterday and that's kind of what sparked the whole medal redisplay project...

*I'm going to run another race in Chicago next year and keep that as an annual tradition. I already have 2 years of Chicago running in the books (2014 was the Zooma Chicago 1/2; 2015 was the Chicago full) so it just makes sense to continue. I was initially looking at doing a Spring or Fall half marathon, but then I came across this...

What "Owning Chicago" Feels Like...{Chicago Marathon Race Recap}

It's hard to believe that the Chicago Marathon was four days ago! It's seems like it's been much longer than that, but every time I start to feel that way my sore leg muscles remind me that it's ONLY been 4 days!!!!

I finally had a moment to collect my thoughts and emotions about the marathon and put them together in a coherent manner. Well that's the goal anyway, you can judge for yourself as you read this post ;)

Marathon morning started really early (doesn't it always?) and I was up and out of bed by 4am. I didn't want to rush getting ready so I gave myself 2 hours to do all the pre-race stuff I normally need to take care of, and then I was off with my mom, dad and Kai, who were all decked out in the "Team Lee" shirts that they surprised me with the day before...

Wish Me Luck!!!!

Today's the day!!!! 

Please send lots of positive thoughts and energy my way! 

I will update the blog as soon as I can :)

I will probably update Instagram first so keep checking my IG page @Thisismyfaster

See you at the finish line!!!

And Then There Were Three...

As the countdown to Chicago continues I, like the most of the other 45,000+ runners participating in the race, am getting more and more excited. We officially have three more days to go!!! I've been trying to do a lot to mentally prepare for the event, since physical preparation is as good as it's going to get at this point. The first step in mental preparation... Visualize the course...

I also spent a lot of time figuring out my "get to the race" strategy for Sunday. I have to go to the gate closest to my corral entrance so my goal is to get to Gate 4 or 5 with enough time to meet up with the Nike+ pace group and get settled for the start...

A lot of blog posts and articles from former Chicago finishers state that the first half of the race goes by pretty fast. Although "fast" is relative, apparently it has a lot to do with the fact that crowds tend to die down after miles 13-14 until around mile 21 when the route goes through Chinatown. I'm going to see how true that is on Sunday, but it's good to know how to mentally prepare for the different sections of the race.

My goal is to become friends with people in my pace group. Hopefully I'll meet someone that is super talkative and can distract me for the entire race; or someone who has done a bunch of marathons before and can give me mile-by-mile encouragement; or someone who is also running their first full marathon so we can encourage each other.

The Runner Tracking app is available (for all supporters and spectators that want to keep track of their runners), or you can sign up for runner tracking on the race website (HERE)...

You can also get live unofficial results HERE. 

Do you use the tracking apps to track yourself during your races?

How do you mentally prepare for your marathon?

Do you like to get to races really early or just in time to slip in before the corral closes?

The Reality of Race Week & A Taste of Chicago...

It's Officially Race Week for the 2015 Bank of America Chicago Marathon and I am ready to...

The Year Of The Full: Chapter 10- THIS IS IT!!!!!!!!!

There are no more long countdowns to go. In fact, after today the # of days until Chicago drops into the single digits. The time has come and I'm in full celebration mode...

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(you can probably tell I'm going through a range of emotions by the number of exclamation points in the blog post title and the lack of any so far in this post...and by the .gif above ^^^). 

I'm getting excited it's just that my excitement also seems to be coming with a lot of nervousness ...and some nausea. But I'm going to do it, and I'm going to finish it, and I'm going to try and not die during the process...