Make it hurt HARD

One thing that is different about my training under Tyler than my previous training - my workouts HURT HARD. The intensity and paces of his training is beyond anything I have ever done. I know when it is workout day it is time to hurt. Some days I am better at embracing this than others. Some runs I seek out that line and happy that I crossed over it into the hurtlocker and bringing the workout to vomit inducing level. Others days like today I am bit freaked by it and wonder how much I have it in me to dig that deep. This morning I had a case of the blahs and just not jumping up and down to go to the hurtlocker. Part of me was like oh I don't want to run that hard today but I also knew it had to get down and no matter what.

After a 3 mile warm-up and some strides, I didn't feel that great in warm up and the strides were pretty tame. I didn't know what I had in me to run 5 X 5 minutes hard with 2 minutes easy/recovery running in between. My legs felt super tired and heavy in the first 2 but started to feel better as the workout went on and I actually felt more at ease as the workout progressed and ran the last 2 the fastest.

These end of being basically 1200s or more or rather .80 on the garmin of totally distance.

Splits were 6:16, 6;13, 6:13, 6:10, 6:07

I am pretty pleased that I was able to work hard on a day that mind was not super jazzed about doing it. It did hurt but I find it exciting that my fastest reps were the last 2 and I felt like I could definitely handle another one.

Hardest part of training for a marathon is staying in it mentally for the long haul. Today tested me mentally to do the hard work when I wasn't in a "I am in all attitude" mood. Today proved that you have to do that hard work even when you do not feel like it.

2 Weeks of Focus

These next 2 weeks will be the biggest in terms of mileage and intensity since working with my coach Tyler. He has keep me between 40-60 miles pretty much from the get go when he starting coaching me last April. Mainly keeping the mileage low because of my thyroid and adrenals did not get affected by the training load which I think it is hasn't because I have been able to handle it well.

With a big week of 69 miles on tap, I am super excited but I know it is going to take some focus and elimination of distractions so that I am running, eating, stretching, relaxing and sleeping all well this week. This is not the week for extra activities. It will take lots of discipline not to get distracted because the sleeping and resting/relaxing are going to be crucial to my recovery.  I have already alerted my husband to my schedule so that he will be aware if I am tired or snappy ;-)

It has been a long time since I hit that mileage so I am looking forward to training hard this week and making it count. 14 weeks to my marathon and 4 weeks to my half marathon. Time to focus and go to work.

Celebrating Progress and Building Positive Momentum

I ran my first 5K in long time today. Last year I ran 2 5Ks and those did not go so well so my nerves were pretty much in full alert before the race. Lucky to have a friend to chat about other stuff in our warm-up but I was pretty nervous. I had hoped to go under 21 minutes and all my workouts indicate I can run significantly faster but my mind is not yet on board with that so baby steps with a sub 21 minute goal. 

The course is suppose to be one of Charlotte's Flattest courses. Well here is the thing with Charlotte, it is hard to find a mile that is flat let alone a 3 mile stretch of roads that are flat. This course is flatter and more of rolling hills but not flat which sort of took me off guard but anyway I went with it and but alas legs were feeling the hill repeats from earlier in the week. Another thing is I kept finding myself trying to settle in marathon style like find a hard pace and settle in. You just can not to do that in a 5K. You have to push the entire way and try to fry the legs a bit in the process. I was not that successful in doing that as I was loosing focus and would find my body in the wrong rhythm of running. I think I just need some practice at racing this distance but I am really pleased at the results as it was a 1 minute PR and good enough for 2nd place overall Masters award. I am really grooving on these Masters Awards. I guess there are benefits to turning the big 4-0!!!! 

Overall time was 21:15 - splits 7:18, 7:02, 6:45 and 5;50 (last .10) 

I walk away proud and with my head high. I did not taper for race and ran a tough hill repeat workout on Tuesday and hard 14 miler on Wednesday so to pull a small PR in a big training week is a win for me.

The goal in training is progress not perfection. I have not seen any type of PR in 2 years so I will take this victory and carry it with me to my next race/

~ Keep Moving Forward

Never Settling

I have learned above else this year is Never Settle for more than you know you are and deserve in life. I was well on my way to my running dream marathon time when I was struck with Hashimotos, an autoimmune disease that reeks havoc on your body and mind. Well it wasn't a sudden event but a progression in a disease that had been silently destroying my thyroid for years. Only when the symptoms started to become more severe and reduced me to a fatigued and brain fogged soul did I take notice of what was going on inside my body. The months of fatigue was finally explained and I was discouraged by doctors and others that running would not be apart of my future especially endurance running.

My heart knew different and I set out this past year to find the best doctors and resources and coach to get me back on track. I have fought hard. I knew that something in me was more than this disease said their could be. I was worth the fight and my dream was worth fighting for. I was not willing to set it aside when my heart still screamed this is possible - keep going! 

Last year when things were bad, running a 10 minute mile was difficult and running 2 miles was difficult and many runs had me walking away in tears- confused and lost. Where did my strong body go? Just months before 7 minute miles were totally within my abilities.

Month by month working on my health and taking my training day by day I have seen tremendous progress. Some days still suck and running is more difficult than it should be but I keep going on the days when parts of my want to quit. Most days I go into each run having no idea how I will feel. Will it be there or not or will I be gutting out a tough day. There are days that I feel feverish and clammy running like I have the flu or I felt like couldn't breathe and my heart was working too hard for an easy effort or my pace is much slower than I think it should be but everyday I am out there trying is like a gift to myself. I am trying and effort in life is everything. I am not out there being defeated I am winning just by trying. 

I remember two months or so ago when I had a breakthrough workout. I literally finished this amazing run and cried my heart out on the track. I had run faster than I had every thought was even possible for me. In the weeks before I was struggling with hair loss and in and out drs appts overwhelmed by Hashimotos but than I was given unexpected gift on the track one morning. It was like my gift for keeping at it when all signs were pointing to let go of this dream. That one workout gave me enough emotional fuel to keep going and keep doing the work both phyiscal and mental. Everyday is like a brick you get to lay and you want to lay it the best you can so you can build a strong wall. That is how I view each run no matter how fast or not fast I run, I want my effort to be my best. In the end that is all I am responsible for my effort and my attitude the rest is left up to a high power than myself. 

And I believe that that high power is supporting me in my fight! I believe that I am suppose to be doing this with my whole heart even on the days and races that others may not see the progress I know I am making progress each day. I know while it isn't always apparent or consistently shining through like it would for someone without Hashimotos, I know it is there. I see glimpses of the greatness that is inside waiting for all the elements to be in place to shine through. I am good with that! 

This weekend I ran the fastest and strongest long run ever and totally at effort that was well within my abilities and I did not strain to run this fast. For 18 miles @ 8:07 average pace. This is what never give up and never settling looks like for me. 

What is crazy is that 2 years ago when I was training for Houston Marathon when I was healthy and the best shape of my life, I was doing marathon paces runs in the 7:50-8:00 range this was difficult but this weekend I ran 18 miles in that range. This gives me a glimpse into how far I have come and that there really is amazing fitness there ready to tap into when the time is right. 

Sometimes sitting back and savoring how far I have come in the year is the most amazing feeling.

Remembering that when one door closes, another one will open

This is a lesson I have learned before and recently relearned it. Funny how life always reminds of us these life lessons.

You know I will be 100% honest that I was heartbroken that I did not run well at my 15K this weekend. I had hopes of running strong but my thyroid had a complete different idea. I found out in fact my thyroid levels were off. For anyone that knows anything about thyroid physiology I was at .29 TSH which made me hyper. It is much more difficult to run in hyper state than it is to run in a hypo state from my experience. I know it doesn't make sense cause you think hyper oh you will be faster - nope. Hyper is just as a crappy state as Hypo and when running cause you have too much thyroid hormone in your blood so your heart can not regulate itself properly thus making running feel awful.

I was frustrated and heartbroken on Sunday not really understanding why I was still on this thyroid rollercoaster. By Monday, I had let go of that frustration and was determine to make sense of the day.

I knew that both the thyroid and allergy season were both at play and contributed to my bad race experience. This made me really question should I be doing a marathon in December given that we are still working to stabilize my thyroid and with allergy season going through October. My next marathon I want to run well at not just jump in cause I sort of did the training. No I want a training cycle that reflects where I truly am fitness wise. So I had to shut the door on my Kiawah Island Marathon goal. In doing so a new goal marathon emerged and I am super excited about it. I will be running the Charleston Marathon which is one month later. This will give us more time to tweak my hormone levels and get me past allergy season so that I start training in November for my January marathon.

I am excited about this change in direction. I feel like had I not had such a terrible race day than I would never taken a deeper look at my plans.