Every marathoner knows what the wall is and what it takes to push thru it. Sometimes we are succesful and sometimes we are not. I have experienced both as has most runners who have run a marathon or two. the "Wall" I have hit now is with my running in general. It sems to me I am at a point where I can't get over, under, or around this wall.
In the last 22 years of running I have always had a plan and goals whether it was to run a sub 3 hr. marathon or just lose 50 lbs. and run a mi. without stopping (yes I have been there also). At the moment I have no structure to my running. I am planning on running 7 maybe 8 races between now and the middle of April and I have no schedule of any kind for any race. Except for my long runs I have know idea how far I am going to run when I start out. I just run till I am tired then head back home. Lately I have been turning around a lot quicker than in the past.
I know I am not going to set any more PR's-those days are long gone but I don't want end up struggling thru every run mentally. I still enjoy running and the feeling it gives me when I have had a really ggod run(although there haven't been a lot of those lately). Someone told me a long time ago that if I ran more than 3 days a week I was doing for another reason than just exercise. I think my answer to him was" What's your point"!
I am not giving up or retiring because I truly believe that there are 2 or 3(or more) good races left in this almost 62 yr. old body. It's up to me to get thme out of it. I think some 60 degree weather would work wonders for that-What do you think?
Monday, August 22, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
My Generation-Don't be talking bout it!
The perfect tune to come on right when I started my last uphill mile on my run tonite. Since it was the Live at Leeds version I was able to listen to the entire song on the last mile plus my warm down and some. Listening to it I couldn't help but think about how much things have changed for my generation in the last 40-45 yrs. I am not going to bore you with the all the things but take it from me there have been a lot of changes. Some good, some not so good but I believe the majority of them good. Life changes and we all change with it.
When you are 18-20 yrs. old, you think you know everything and you think you are invincible. This attitude leads to a lot of stupid mistakes. I mean a lot of them. If we are lucky we survive them and outgrow this attitude and get wiser with age. Some people(me) take a lot longer to reach this stage but we finally make it-grandchildren help a lot in aspect.
I am really not sure what I am trying to say in this post. I think about a lot of different things while I'm running usually triggered by a song I hear. Running down Milligan Dr.(street I grew up on) and listening to the Who reminded of all the great times and great friends I had growing up. PHS Class of 68- the greatest group of people ever.
When I was 18 I remember someone asking me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I still remember my 3 part answer.1- I didn't want to ever outgrow rock and roll( Elvis is the King and the Doors, Beatles, and Creedence are the greatest RnR bands ever). 2. I wanted to keep running for as long as I could( this one is turning out well). 3-the most important of all-I wanted to be with my high school sweetheart forever and she has been with me every step and stride of the way. No matter what Mary is always waitng for me at the finish line-either in person or spirit. This Sat. Aug. 20th will be our 41st wedding anniversary.
I guess you could say the way I feel now can be put in the words of a song. "I love the life I live and live the life I love"(with a few bumps, twists, and turns along the way!).
When you are 18-20 yrs. old, you think you know everything and you think you are invincible. This attitude leads to a lot of stupid mistakes. I mean a lot of them. If we are lucky we survive them and outgrow this attitude and get wiser with age. Some people(me) take a lot longer to reach this stage but we finally make it-grandchildren help a lot in aspect.
I am really not sure what I am trying to say in this post. I think about a lot of different things while I'm running usually triggered by a song I hear. Running down Milligan Dr.(street I grew up on) and listening to the Who reminded of all the great times and great friends I had growing up. PHS Class of 68- the greatest group of people ever.
When I was 18 I remember someone asking me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I still remember my 3 part answer.1- I didn't want to ever outgrow rock and roll( Elvis is the King and the Doors, Beatles, and Creedence are the greatest RnR bands ever). 2. I wanted to keep running for as long as I could( this one is turning out well). 3-the most important of all-I wanted to be with my high school sweetheart forever and she has been with me every step and stride of the way. No matter what Mary is always waitng for me at the finish line-either in person or spirit. This Sat. Aug. 20th will be our 41st wedding anniversary.
I guess you could say the way I feel now can be put in the words of a song. "I love the life I live and live the life I love"(with a few bumps, twists, and turns along the way!).
Friday, August 12, 2011
Keep your MOJO working!
4 mi. run this morning and I have come to the realization that I am in worse shape now than I have been in the last 22 yrs. It seems that I have lost my MOJO and I can't get it back. It is 8 weeks until my 1st half marathon of racing season and I am not anywhere near where I should be in my training schedule. It would be easy to blame the heat or age but I can't because there are runners as old or older than me out there training in this heat.
As always I do have a plan. Always before if I ran a bad race I would just say " I was just using this race for a training run". Whether it was true or not it always made me feel better so I will just say before the race it is just a training run(unless I run good and then we go to plan B).
Now how to get my MOJO back. 2 new pair of running shoes should do it. It has always worked in the past. It is time to go to the Brooks website and start working on getting my MOJO back. Life's not hard it's just simply complicated. As always great running to you!
As always I do have a plan. Always before if I ran a bad race I would just say " I was just using this race for a training run". Whether it was true or not it always made me feel better so I will just say before the race it is just a training run(unless I run good and then we go to plan B).
Now how to get my MOJO back. 2 new pair of running shoes should do it. It has always worked in the past. It is time to go to the Brooks website and start working on getting my MOJO back. Life's not hard it's just simply complicated. As always great running to you!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
98.6
98.6-normal body temperature right! As I sit here with a ice pack on both knees and a pkg, of frozen peas on my head trying to get back to normal temp. I realize I did something this evening that I had never done before, I ran when the temp. was over 100 deg. In all my years of running I had never done this before( except for a few times when I was much younger and they are not to be counted or discussed because 1-they weren't training runs 2. this blog is rated G and 3-my daughter reads this blog.).
I have been riding the stationary bike for the last 2 days but when I got home from work this evening I just wanted to run. It was 102, 5 which is better than 107 so I thought why not. It was only a 5k run but it was a run and actually I did not feel that bad. I keep saying to myself that in 6 to 8 weeks it is going to cool off. All I can say is to stay focused and Hydrate-Hydrate-Hydrate.
I have been riding the stationary bike for the last 2 days but when I got home from work this evening I just wanted to run. It was 102, 5 which is better than 107 so I thought why not. It was only a 5k run but it was a run and actually I did not feel that bad. I keep saying to myself that in 6 to 8 weeks it is going to cool off. All I can say is to stay focused and Hydrate-Hydrate-Hydrate.
Friday, July 29, 2011
The Times They are a Changing!
It's funny to me how our goals seem to change in running through the years and miles. When I first started running (the 2nd time around) I had only one goal-to lose weight-as much and as soon as possible. This goal worked out real well.
The next phase of my running had to do with races. Every race I ran I felt like I should set a PR even though it doesn't usually work out that way. If I didnt't se a PR then I must not have worked hard enough during the week so I would add more miles to my workouts. By doing this I developed a new goal-run as many miles during the week as I possibly could(never said I was smart).
After turning 50(with age comes wisdom?) I decided to set my goals a little different. I would pick out one to two races a year(marathons and 1/2's) and train hard for those and use the short races for speed work. I still felt like I had than one super race left in my legs and that one race it would be my day when everything went right and I would run the time of my life. I'm not sure if I ran the time of my life after 50 but I had some great runs.
My next change of goals came after my knee surgery. It was simple-just let me run again. I was able to run and then my gola was to run a marathon, preferably the same one as my daughter Jessica ran. Again this worked out great because I finished the race and watched Jessica cross the finish line of her 1st marathon( along the way I was also fortunate enough to run side by side with Jessica in her 1st 1/2).
Now I have new goals and they are very simple ones. I think they have changed again because of a combination of age, heat, miles, and a little wisdom on my part.
Goal1: Finish my runs upright on my own feet.
Goal 2: Finish my training runs the actual same day I start them.
Actually I have one more goal: To keep running as long as possible and have Jessica cross the finish line and wait on me!
Whatever your goals are:Keep Runnin!!!
The next phase of my running had to do with races. Every race I ran I felt like I should set a PR even though it doesn't usually work out that way. If I didnt't se a PR then I must not have worked hard enough during the week so I would add more miles to my workouts. By doing this I developed a new goal-run as many miles during the week as I possibly could(never said I was smart).
After turning 50(with age comes wisdom?) I decided to set my goals a little different. I would pick out one to two races a year(marathons and 1/2's) and train hard for those and use the short races for speed work. I still felt like I had than one super race left in my legs and that one race it would be my day when everything went right and I would run the time of my life. I'm not sure if I ran the time of my life after 50 but I had some great runs.
My next change of goals came after my knee surgery. It was simple-just let me run again. I was able to run and then my gola was to run a marathon, preferably the same one as my daughter Jessica ran. Again this worked out great because I finished the race and watched Jessica cross the finish line of her 1st marathon( along the way I was also fortunate enough to run side by side with Jessica in her 1st 1/2).
Now I have new goals and they are very simple ones. I think they have changed again because of a combination of age, heat, miles, and a little wisdom on my part.
Goal1: Finish my runs upright on my own feet.
Goal 2: Finish my training runs the actual same day I start them.
Actually I have one more goal: To keep running as long as possible and have Jessica cross the finish line and wait on me!
Whatever your goals are:Keep Runnin!!!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Sunshine Superman!
I started my run out today feeling really great. It was just beginning to turn to daylight and did not feel to bad out there. The 1st 4 or so mi. I was running right on target pace thinking this is really going to be a good run timewise, then it happened. I started slowing down and began feeling miserable and could not get my pace back to what it should be.My feet were even hot and burning. What was going on?
Then I looked up and realized what had happened. The sun had become my kryptonite. The higher in the sky it got, the worse I felt and ran. I had no lead shield to protect me so naturally, just like Superman I lost all my strength. The last uphill mile home proved to be a struggle but I made it and found a lead shield in the form of the A/C and will live to run another day! It just goes to show you that "Running is 90% mental and the other half is physical". Please forgive me Yogi for changing that quote just a little.
Then I looked up and realized what had happened. The sun had become my kryptonite. The higher in the sky it got, the worse I felt and ran. I had no lead shield to protect me so naturally, just like Superman I lost all my strength. The last uphill mile home proved to be a struggle but I made it and found a lead shield in the form of the A/C and will live to run another day! It just goes to show you that "Running is 90% mental and the other half is physical". Please forgive me Yogi for changing that quote just a little.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Cool Water
Instead of "My Kingdom for a Horse" this morning i felt like saying my kingdom for some cool water, but since iI don't have a kingdom I just settled for some luke-warm watered down fluid.On my days off in the summer except for my long runs I try to start my runs between 7 and 8 a.m. Even though I don't always manage to do this, it is a habit I picked up when I was racing 3 to 4 weekends a month in the summer. Most races start at these times so I felt like it would better prepare me to race by doing this. Why I still do it I'm not sure unless it at least makes me think I'm preparing for a big race.
Rambling right along, this morning I left the house with a full bottle of iced cold fluid, but by the time I took my 1st drink the ice was melted and the bottle was 1/2 empty(not good). It is always a good idea to double check and make sure the lid is closed tight and if you feel water running down your back you might stop and recheck the bottle. I wasn't that for from the house and the smart thing to do would have been to go back, refill and re=ice but then noone has ever accused me of being just real smart when it comes to things like this. After all, it was only an hour run right-needless to say was out of even lukewarm fluid when I finished my run this morning and was very hot and thirsty.
The moral of this story is #1-check then double check your water bottle and #2-it wouldn't hurt to freeze one bottle overnight and take it with you as a back-up. This just goes to prove if you want to survive out there on the road this summer it helps if you are smarter than the road. If not it could be a long hot summer!!!
Rambling right along, this morning I left the house with a full bottle of iced cold fluid, but by the time I took my 1st drink the ice was melted and the bottle was 1/2 empty(not good). It is always a good idea to double check and make sure the lid is closed tight and if you feel water running down your back you might stop and recheck the bottle. I wasn't that for from the house and the smart thing to do would have been to go back, refill and re=ice but then noone has ever accused me of being just real smart when it comes to things like this. After all, it was only an hour run right-needless to say was out of even lukewarm fluid when I finished my run this morning and was very hot and thirsty.
The moral of this story is #1-check then double check your water bottle and #2-it wouldn't hurt to freeze one bottle overnight and take it with you as a back-up. This just goes to prove if you want to survive out there on the road this summer it helps if you are smarter than the road. If not it could be a long hot summer!!!
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