Yesterday was the last of the (really long) long runs, 18 miles in 3 hours and 5 minutes. It was rather grueling with lots of hills and I never really felt like I was that into it. If I had done the training correctly today would have been 20 miles and I suppose I would've been really proud that once again I completed my longest run ever but I already did that 2 weeks ago. I really hope I start enjoying the training again because I still have 25 days until the big day!
I'm just bored with this. I'm still feeling very capable of finishing but I think my time goals may have been too ambitious. I was hoping for low 4 hours but I think anything under 4:30 is more likely (I hope). The tapper begins, just three more runs in the double digits.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
Chopra Kick Continues
I'm still on my Deepak Chopra kick. I am giving "The Book of Secrets" a rest. I do enjoy the book and will go back to it but its a lot of intense thinking. Sometimes its nice to just get sucked into a fiction book. I can't believe it was a couple of years ago but it was, I read Chopra's "Jesus" book which is part of a series Chopra wrote. There's also a "Muhammed" and "Buddha" book. I really enjoyed "Jesus" but being Catholic I have some background information on Jesus. A few weeks ago, I decided to grab the "Muhammed" book and learn about someone I had no background information on. I am enjoying this book as well but since I don't have background information on Muhammed its hard to know what aspects are fiction and what is actually historical.
The aspect that I am going to focus on which seems so glaring after reading 2 of 3 in the series is that these people, Jesus and Muhammed, are special people who had to figure out their gifts. I find this so interesting. These very special people were definitely always special with "signs" occurring as they were children, they were sent by God or chosen by God depending on your faith, yet as adults they still had to figure out how to be open to God and reconcile it within their lives just like everybody else.
Shouldn't we all be doing that? It gives me hope. This is something I find hard to do yet I know is tremendously important. But if it was hard for such special people like Muhammed and Jesus, of course it is going to be hard for regular ol' me.
In a very practical sense, I was pondering this aspect of work, life, nothing being easy, last week. I had a 14 mile long run. I was looking forward to my long run thinking how I'd "enjoy"it, thinking it wouldn't be too hard, since I know I can do 20 miles, etc. Then right before its time to go I've got butterflies in my stomach, while on the run the first few miles I felt heavy and sure enough by mile 12 I was taking walking breaks and crazed because I had finished my water early. Its just never easy even when you know you can do more. There is just so much struggle to anything that is a challenge. I know this is obvious to most. If I take the time to train myself to do what ever I want, it WILL be hard but I can succeed and there will always be something greater as a result.
Challenge #1 is a physical challenge, the marathon, which by most accounts is the easiest form of challenge. What will the the next challenge be?
The aspect that I am going to focus on which seems so glaring after reading 2 of 3 in the series is that these people, Jesus and Muhammed, are special people who had to figure out their gifts. I find this so interesting. These very special people were definitely always special with "signs" occurring as they were children, they were sent by God or chosen by God depending on your faith, yet as adults they still had to figure out how to be open to God and reconcile it within their lives just like everybody else.
Shouldn't we all be doing that? It gives me hope. This is something I find hard to do yet I know is tremendously important. But if it was hard for such special people like Muhammed and Jesus, of course it is going to be hard for regular ol' me.
In a very practical sense, I was pondering this aspect of work, life, nothing being easy, last week. I had a 14 mile long run. I was looking forward to my long run thinking how I'd "enjoy"it, thinking it wouldn't be too hard, since I know I can do 20 miles, etc. Then right before its time to go I've got butterflies in my stomach, while on the run the first few miles I felt heavy and sure enough by mile 12 I was taking walking breaks and crazed because I had finished my water early. Its just never easy even when you know you can do more. There is just so much struggle to anything that is a challenge. I know this is obvious to most. If I take the time to train myself to do what ever I want, it WILL be hard but I can succeed and there will always be something greater as a result.
Challenge #1 is a physical challenge, the marathon, which by most accounts is the easiest form of challenge. What will the the next challenge be?
Monday, October 15, 2012
Knowing I Can Finish
Last week's long run was supposed to be an 18 mile run. My training partner was confused and planned a 20 mile route. I had plenty of butterflies in my stomach over 18 miles so I suppose it was better to get the 20 mile run over with as a "surprise." It was tough but I finished strong in 3 hours 13 minutes!
For so long my "push" point, the point were I'm struggling and take a few walk breaks to suck down my water, has been 10 miles. I noted in my last post that I made it all the way to the half marathon point before hitting my "push" point. I can report that its still increasing. My Nike app was acting sporadically so I shut it off in frustration. I would guess though that I did not hit my push point until I was in mile 19!! In my soreness in the last few days, I'm realizing that I'm capable of finishing! There is a pride in my heart that is already building up.
My only hope now is that I do not get injured in these last few weeks. My left side has a slight ache that I'm familiar with so I'm going to make sure I do my IT band exercises. I'm feeling so close already!
For so long my "push" point, the point were I'm struggling and take a few walk breaks to suck down my water, has been 10 miles. I noted in my last post that I made it all the way to the half marathon point before hitting my "push" point. I can report that its still increasing. My Nike app was acting sporadically so I shut it off in frustration. I would guess though that I did not hit my push point until I was in mile 19!! In my soreness in the last few days, I'm realizing that I'm capable of finishing! There is a pride in my heart that is already building up.
My only hope now is that I do not get injured in these last few weeks. My left side has a slight ache that I'm familiar with so I'm going to make sure I do my IT band exercises. I'm feeling so close already!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Sweet 16
Well, last week shook out pretty nicely. I finished all my training runs, including my longest run ever of 16 miles. I finally heard back from our contractor who should be coming today to fix the shower door. The animal trapper is coming today to expel our squirrels and it is not costing an arm and a leg. Mid week was kind of rocky but the week ended nicely with a great weekend.
I am loving Hal Higdon's training plan. This week has started like last with a short run on the treadmill. Like most people, I tend to run much faster on the treadmill and it is really making an impact on my pace. The first 11 miles of my long run were all in the low nine minute per mile range! At the half marathon point I was at 2:01 hours which is only slightly off 1:58 (my best half marathon time to date). The last three miles of the 16 were brutal and I ended up run/walking those last three BUT its still an improvement from my usual come a part after ten miles! So my "push" point has definitely increased. The run took a lot out of me, probably did not help that I ended up finishing a mile away from home and so still had a long walk. Next up is research nutrition and power gels.
Can't wait to see our contractor and get the shower door fixed. I will be so disappointed if he can't do it. The only thing that could make my domestic life better at this point is if one of these squirrels gets trapped in the trap that our neighbor lent us. We are so overrun with squirrels, its insane or at least its making me go insane. Last night I opened my front door with my 2 year old in my arms (she insists on a walk in the carriage to fall asleep) and a squirrel (at least I think it was a squirrel) jumped out of her carriage!! The trapper comes this afternoon to set up a one way door so the squirrels get out of the hole they chewed in our soffit. Next we plug up the holes and pray they never come back. I do not like all this nature to close to me.
Class #2 of Sunday school went great. I have 9 kids (one is my own kid) in class. I feel really good about the fact that literally half of the kids (not including my own, of course) in my class have told their parents that they really like my class and the parents were nice enough to tell me. I feel like I am definitely on the right path with the teaching. I followed the same format as last week with a coloring page, workbook pages, then circle time, followed by talking about a saint's life with complimentary activity. Workbook went a little long this week because I wanted to do three chapters to finish the unit but the saint activity was too short. The kids seemed really excited for circle time. Last week I noticed not everyone was into the singing so this week I brought in maracas. Maracas were a big hit! So lucky I had them left over from a birthday party. They seemed to help the kids remember the words of the songs more. Finally, everyone participated in "pop quiz" time where I just go over the key points of the lesson and everyone gets to yell the answer. This week we talked about St. Francis (patron saint of animals, I think), there was a bit of an animal theme since our workbook work was "Creation of Animals" so the kids got to act out their favorite animal and we all guessed what it was. I can't tell if I'm an awesome teacher or I just got a great group of kids. They are so enthusiastic about everything!
I am loving Hal Higdon's training plan. This week has started like last with a short run on the treadmill. Like most people, I tend to run much faster on the treadmill and it is really making an impact on my pace. The first 11 miles of my long run were all in the low nine minute per mile range! At the half marathon point I was at 2:01 hours which is only slightly off 1:58 (my best half marathon time to date). The last three miles of the 16 were brutal and I ended up run/walking those last three BUT its still an improvement from my usual come a part after ten miles! So my "push" point has definitely increased. The run took a lot out of me, probably did not help that I ended up finishing a mile away from home and so still had a long walk. Next up is research nutrition and power gels.
Can't wait to see our contractor and get the shower door fixed. I will be so disappointed if he can't do it. The only thing that could make my domestic life better at this point is if one of these squirrels gets trapped in the trap that our neighbor lent us. We are so overrun with squirrels, its insane or at least its making me go insane. Last night I opened my front door with my 2 year old in my arms (she insists on a walk in the carriage to fall asleep) and a squirrel (at least I think it was a squirrel) jumped out of her carriage!! The trapper comes this afternoon to set up a one way door so the squirrels get out of the hole they chewed in our soffit. Next we plug up the holes and pray they never come back. I do not like all this nature to close to me.
Class #2 of Sunday school went great. I have 9 kids (one is my own kid) in class. I feel really good about the fact that literally half of the kids (not including my own, of course) in my class have told their parents that they really like my class and the parents were nice enough to tell me. I feel like I am definitely on the right path with the teaching. I followed the same format as last week with a coloring page, workbook pages, then circle time, followed by talking about a saint's life with complimentary activity. Workbook went a little long this week because I wanted to do three chapters to finish the unit but the saint activity was too short. The kids seemed really excited for circle time. Last week I noticed not everyone was into the singing so this week I brought in maracas. Maracas were a big hit! So lucky I had them left over from a birthday party. They seemed to help the kids remember the words of the songs more. Finally, everyone participated in "pop quiz" time where I just go over the key points of the lesson and everyone gets to yell the answer. This week we talked about St. Francis (patron saint of animals, I think), there was a bit of an animal theme since our workbook work was "Creation of Animals" so the kids got to act out their favorite animal and we all guessed what it was. I can't tell if I'm an awesome teacher or I just got a great group of kids. They are so enthusiastic about everything!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)