Self talk and Marathon Plans

X-training on the bike

My training has been going great lately. I downloaded a training program I purchased from the No Meat Athlete website. It has me doing tempo runs and intervals along with easy runs and slow long runs.  Mixing it up a bit has helped with the boredom issue. I think it is also helping with strength.  Tomorrow morning I plan to get up before work and go do an interval session at the park down the street.  It only takes 30 minutes which is sweet to be done so quickly. I do 5 minutes of an easy warmup run then do 1 minute as fast as I reasonably can then 2 minutes slow jog and repeat a total of 6 times followed by a 5 minute cool down.  My legs have been a little sore from this workout which is good.

Our friend Rick taking a jump

I'm about 90% sure I am going to sign up for the marathon in the redwoods up by Eureka CA.  I think I am ready to up the mileage and training. My pediatrician friend, Alisa, is going to do some of the long runs with me. She had surgery on her leg for an ileo tibial band injury not too long ago so isn't ready to do the full marathon yet but she is ready to do some training runs. I love running with her. She is fun to talk to and the miles fly by. We ran 8 on Saturday morning at PQ preserve and it felt easy as pie.  My body was a little sore after but mostly I felt great.

Sunday I cross trained on the bike.  Well, really we just did a family bike ride at PQ preserves also.  We rode 3 miles to the waterfall and back.  Kelly got a nice new mountain bike which I hope he uses a lot. His knees hurt so he doesn't like to run but hopefully the bike will work well for him.

My Man

I really love to run. I was thinking about it the other day and wondering why this is so. Why do I love to run mile after mile.  There are a lot of reasons but one that I think is big is the fact that to do it at all you have to believe in yourself .  You can't run 5 miles or even one mile if first you don't believe that you can. And then while you are doing it you have to be nice to yourself and say things like, "you can do this" and " keep on going you've got this".  It's nearly impossible to run and tell yourself negative words. And this may be true in other activities as well but for me it is very apparent in running.  

Christmas traditions are awesome!

Yosemite, motivation and the ever present nagging of injury

A dog ran out from this run down house along the road and scared the heck out of me

Thanksgiving week seems like a long time ago now even though it has only been one week back to work.  The week off was great for running, nice for family time and over too fast.  I ran fairly often on vacation.  Taking a run in a new place is always exciting and I have no problem motivating myself to run in these situations.  It is a day like today, Saturday, no one home, lightly raining and cold outside that I find it hard to get out there.  Plus I am so bored with the runs in my own neighborhood.  While on vacation I ran along a small back road just out side of Yosemite, on a trail in the trees up and down hills and then long distance on a flat highway in Hollister near my brother's house.  They were all new and had a lot of scenery and it felt good.  

The very steep hike to Vernal Falls

Since I got home last Sunday I have only run once.  I ran around Lake Miramar for perhaps the millionth time.  How does one get over the boredom factor?  I have seen articles in Running World and on running blogs about this very subject.  They mention running with friends, which does help, but that takes planning and scheduling.  They also mention new trails or locations.  I should try that some more.  Another thing mentioned is listening to podcasts.  That actually might help a bit.  On our long drive in the motor home up to Yosemite I listened to quite a few podcasts on iTunes.  Mostly about running.  No Meat Athlete and Rich Roll have good ones.  They talk about veganism and running and health and other areas that interest me.  I like them too because the guys who do the podcasts seem like nice people.  

A farm along Highway 25 on my 8 mile run

Running my last half marathon and running on vacation really inspired me to get ready for the full marathon.  My only concern, though, is the recurrent orthopedic issues I have.  I'm worried my body might not be ready for the training.  I just have these nagging issues like mild pain in my right knee.  It isn't bad but it bothers me a little when I run more than usual.  And then the groin pain on my left.  This is what I ran on vacation: Sunday-4mi, Tuesday 4 mi, Thursday 8mi, Saturday 3 mi and then back home on Monday 5 miles.  Tuesday night I had to take Motrin to sleep because deep in my groin back to my hip and butt it ached.  It wasn't severe, more like when you are a kid and you get growing pains.  It wasn't aching muscles, that is a good feeling.  More like a ligament/bone/joint ache.  I felt fine the next day.  I just worry that if I step up my mileage one of these issues will really manifest itself.  But I can't run longer with out running longer!   I have a half marathon scheduled on January 19 at Carlsbad.  I think I will see how that goes and decide from there.  

A double selfie on our hike at Pinnacles National Park

I still need to figure out how to incorporate strength training in to my routine.  I have a 15 minute workout doing 2 sets of different exercises to strengthen the core that I like.  I decided on December First that I would do these exercises every day until my half marathon to try to make it a habit.  I lasted 3 days!  Then I had a really long day at work with an overnight shift and I quit.  So now what?  I guess I will start again and see if it can stick?  Any suggestions?  I am also going to try to vary my runs with intervals and tempo runs which hopefully will help with strength too and also maybe with the aforementioned boredom issue.  Well, I've written long enough and now I have to convince myself to get out there and run today!   I can do it, yes I can.  Uggghh.  We'll see.