#distance running
I’m already trying to find another half this summer. After all of the pain and recovery I realize just how fun running a half is!!
Me mid-race: “Is death a viable option?”
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Coach: “That was better”
Me: “Not better enough”
Coach: “Better than your English grammar”
Alas, there is a hole in my heart where the Rio 2016 track and field proceedings use to be.
Realizing how lonely you’re gonna be without your teammates over break
57 to go. Made a short one, saw that the halloween missions were up, which had to be tried. Accidentally clicked the “play back-to-back” mode. Got stuck running for about 100 minutes. Lol.
I thought I was the only person who used this app. Talk about a great incentive to run longer!
Admittedly, sometimes it makes back-country running feel a bit more…eerie.
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Well, I’m on day…25 of 30 (I had to think about that for a moment!) of the paleo challenge that my entire gym decided to do together. And I’m pretty pleased. If you had asked me a day ago, I would have growled at you, but since I let myself eat plenty of carbs last night (a sweet potato and a Larabar as a treat sound a little sad in retrospect) and a fatty (but not fattening!) breakfast this morning, I feel pretty fantastic. And it seemed to have a profound effect on my 9-mile run today. For whatever reason, I forgot to bring my water with me on the trail, so mild dehydration on a hot day like this slowed me down toward the end, but it was still a far more energetic run than I’ve had in quite awhile! So, I at least can’t say this kind of fuel is slowing me down.
In general, I feel that my performance has been slightly better, or at least is holding steady, when compared to how I have a tendency to eat while not paying much attention to diet. And, perhaps best of all, I’ve fully realized that fasting exercise is no more difficult than working out after eating. It’s nice to know that my body can accomplish the task at hand without needing food in some specific time frame.
So, how about the way my body looks and feels? Well, it’s tough to notice changes when you see yourself in the mirror everyday, which is, of course, what makes progress photos so important. I can tell that there is some amount of fat loss when I see how loosely my slacks fit or when I feel the more exposed contours of my quads and hamstrings. But the confirmation of visible change came in a very real way when my coach mentioned that I was looking leaner. I like to think that he’s just afraid that I’ll beat him! That is, he’s offering a 3-month membership to anyone who leans out more than him in this 30 day timeframe. Well, we will know for sure in the next week. In any case, I’m happy with how this has affected me.
I’m about to head out on a long run. In public. In daylight. Yet this is how I dress myself. Once I’m back, I’ll be sharing a bit of an update on how this paleo challenge has been going for me (simply put: well), but first it’s off for some trail time. In the mean time, here are some muscles!
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Corset Athlete Update, Part 1: Running
So I created this little side blog to give me a space to yap about my recreational/athletic goals, plans, and adventures. But I haven’t really used it all that much, have I? I’ve hit a number of milestones and signed up for a few events in the past several months that are worth mentioning, but I never got so far as typing out anything about them! You’ll see a few “Corset Athlete Update” posts coming out here in the next few days, so consider these a “catch-up” on what I’ve been up to lately. As always, I love questions, so feel free to shoot me a message if you have any at all!
Running
For Christmas, my husband got me one gift. One and only one gift: registration for a race series. Four 5K races and 1 half marathon. So, does that make it five gifts? A lot more if you count all the excess swag that comes with any race these days…
It was exactly what I wanted! It was also what I asked for. The winter months are so difficult to keep up a running habit during, especially for someone like me who considers treadmill running a taste of hell. I figured that having some races peppered throughout this part of the year would be helpful in keeping me motivated. At the very least, I had to show up to the races to get my “free” post-race bagel (even if I just fed it to my dear partner).
At the beginning of it all, I set the goal of completing one of the 5Ks in less than 25 minutes. Even as a cross country runner in high school, I hadn’t dipped below that time. No such luck, but I still was pretty happy with my times.
12/7/14 (perfect weather): 26:04
1/18/15 (bad pre-race fueling): 26:32
2/1/15 (icy course): 28:58
2/8/15 (good weather, high winds): 26:05
So far, I’m actually sitting pretty at 10th place for women in the entire race series out of over 800 gals (and 26th out of 1300+ overall), though that’s mostly due to the fact that I’ve simply participated in all of the races.
The final race, a half marathon, is coming up this Sunday (yep, three days from now). And I’m not as well-trained for it as I would like to say I am. There’s no doubt I’ll get through it without slowing to a walk, but I doubt it will be a PR. The weather looks to be of little help in this matter. We are set to receive another 10-ish inches of snow between now and race day, with the temperature never rising above freezing. At a certain point, the goal mainly becomes to not slip and hurt myself!
I suppose I should wrap this up by saying “wish me luck” or something to that effect. After all, it can’t hurt. :)
Photos
Top: Pre-race 12/17/14
Bottom: Post-race 2/1/15
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napowrimo day 9 // to the lady who told me women shouldn’t run
[alternate title: in defense of my sport against someone who clearly hasn’t heard that they debunked that myth about our uteruses falling out when we run]
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