Sunday, August 26, 2012

A Breakthrough!

Alright, here's the story since the last update....

I've been running sporadically, but with little success in getting my long runs in. The longest I had run was 6 miles, and it was okay. Then I missed a weekend so no long run. I was sort of keeping up with mid-week runs, accomplished very little speed work, and even dropped some cross training. All of this on top of the fact that the few runs I had were mostly awful led me to believe that today's long run would be horrible. I was determined to complete it, even if it was miserable. And it was....

Awesome! Okay - I really felt it was going to be bad. It had all the makings of a bad long run. Seriously. What made it so successful? A few things:

  1. I finally paced myself. I started slow, let myself warm up, and then didn't let my pace get too fast. I really had the slow and steady mentality. It works!
  2. I focused on good form and just put one foot in front of the other. The new shoes helped with form as well. 
  3. I didn't allow myself to think "if I make it to mile X, I can reward myself with a walk break". That's been a huge obstacle of mine, and I've suspected for some time now that if I could get rid of the mental blocks and challenges then running would be easier. This allowed me to run all 8 miles this morning. No stops!
Post-run I actually feel really good too. The only issue I have is my left heel is really tender again. I have got to see a doctor about it. This pain started around April, and it's not going away. 

That's it so far. Hopefully this momentum keeps up!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Probably the worst start to training ever

So I am a month into the latest training plan for the half marathon I'm running in October. What progress have I made? Almost none. Sporadic rain causing migraines combined with crazy scheduling issues means I can't seem to run consistently. I ran 5 miles last Sunday and thought I was going to die. It's also been insanely hot and humid, making it hard to even get the bare minimum motivation to just think about running.

The plan this time was to train hardcore and focus on speed work. So far I haven't even had a single speed training session. I have incorporated more cross training, which has been good. That's always been an area I was lacking in before.

Long story short - this is the reason for a lack of updates. I haven't had much to update anyone on. I've got two things to focus on the next two months: get a consistent schedule for training and try to just enjoy running. The migraine issue probably won't resolve itself since so much of it is from stress (new job that I love but it's a lot of work) and rain. October ought to be interesting.