After riding the struggle bus, I’m finally finding my way back to a solid training routine for the New Jersey Marathon! I’ve made some changes and I’ve got a “New Attitude” so I hope it carries me through the next several weeks before the big race!
I’m joining HoHo and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap – it’s always great to see what my fellow running/fitness friends are up to! I’m also joining Courtney for her Weekly Training Recap linkup and Marcia, Patty, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run!
Weekly Wrap: Rebuilding Mental Strength, Winter Madness
You may have noticed that my tone in my posts hasn’t been as positive lately. Training has been a real struggle the past few weeks I’ve been training for the New Jersey Marathon since Christmas Day and I’ve been working really hard…but sometimes, there come a point where it all gets a little monotonous. If you know me, you know that I’m a creature of habit and I thrive on having a routine, but for whatever reason, this training routine has started to be a bit tougher to handle and I’ve felt like I’m just going through the motions. Is it a late onset of the winter blues? I have trained in the winter plenty of times before, but this is my first time training for a marathon in the winter. It definitely has its pros and cons.
I think I got really discouraged when I started getting these aches and pains. I’ve been fortunate to be injury-free for years, but it seemed like it was a bit too good to be true to last this long. Bad habits catch up with you over time. And even when you’re doing the right things, sometimes it’s not enough. The shoulder pain is still a head-scratcher but I’m trying to focus on improving my running form and posture overall. The knee pain has reached a high point that I hadn’t felt in years…and it was making me wonder if I could really keep training and make it to the race.
But I don’t want to wallow. I want to work. I want to run this marathon on April 29. YES – it gets BORING sometimes. But this is an important goal that I look forward to achieving. This round of training is far more intense than my first marathon was. I wanted to challenge myself this time. So…it is what it is! I know I can do this. I have no other goal races for 2018. Honestly, I’m not even thinking about any other races in 2018 anymore. This winter has been a wild one and has tested me in so many ways…and I’m still here. When I remember the big picture, everything falls back into place. Onwards!
Now on another note, how about this winter storm last Friday?? I don’t think anyone believed how bad the weather would be; I sure didn’t. In Philadelphia, we had winds that were gusting to well over 60 mph. First it was raining, then it switched over to snow, and it was unbelievable to see the transformation throughout the day! When I met my sister for lunch, just a brief walk outside had my pants soaked to the point that I had to change clothes in my office! The Regional Rail stopped running so Bret had to meet me at the Subway so we could drive home, and that commute was a complete nightmare – 2 hours long through the city streets. I’ve never seen anything like it…so many downed trees and power lines on top of dodging potholes and crazy drivers. And when we got to our neighborhood we had much more accumulated snow! Thankfully, we had no incidents or power loss – we were so lucky! Unfortunately, we’re having at least 2 more storms this week and I’m starting to worry. Mother Nature is not a happy woman!
Workouts for the Week:
Monday 2/26: A full hour of yoga at lunch. It really has been a long time since I could attend class! I was pretty stiff and my hamstrings were tight, but it was great to be back!
Tuesday 2/27: Speed work time! My friend Tom joined me again and I put him to work! We had a 1-mile warmup with 3 miles at 9:25-9:45 pace, then 1-mile cooldown. This was a really intimidating run for me so it would figure that our splits were 8:57, 9:07, and 9:20! We had great weather for the run and it was fun to “feel fast”. This was definitely the confidence boost I needed after a couple of tough training weeks!
Wednesday 2/28: Because of my social calendar, I had to once again move my Thursday easy run to Wednesday. I was really dreading going out for this run but I finally made it out the door and enjoyed another nice day. I was definitely feeling the fatigue from Tuesday’s workout! I did have to readjust my laces because I was feeling tightness in my left arch and right shin. Otherwise, no complaints.
Thursday 3/1: I really started to feel the fatigue by this point in the week. My hips were really sore as well and I essentially kneeled at my desk for some relief – my left side felt it the most. Originally, I was going to go to barre class after a happy hour, but I decided to cancel and have a few more drinks, lol! Seriously though, another workout would have been too much.
Friday 3/2: Rest day!
Saturday 3/3: My motivation dropped again as I was dreading my 15-mile run. It’s not like I haven’t run that far before, but with all the issues I’ve been having lately…ugh. Instead, after a full day of cleaning the house, Bret and I did 4 miles together, normally my Sunday recovery run. Once again he pushed me out the door. We went one of my old familiar routes but the uphill (and strong winds) were really hard on me! When the wind was at my back and I had all downhills, I felt much better!
Sunday 3/4: It was time to face reality: I have to run my long run! Fortunately, Bret promised me that he would join me for the full distance, so that was a huge help. I decided that since I just received some KT Tape to test out for BibRave, that I would give it a try and see if it would help my nagging issues. I taped my left knee and my right foot/ankle. If I had more time I would have also taped my shin and my shoulder…but I figured this would be a good opportunity to compare one side vs. the other. The run started out pretty well but I started adding in some walk breaks after 9 miles since I was really putting Bret to work. Normally both knees would have been toast at this point but my taped knee felt pretty solid! I did have a weird, unpleasant pain in my right calf that I never had before about 6 miles in – I do think the tape had something to do with it…but the pain did go away over time. After dodging several fallen trees, we were triumphant and completed 15 miles, hallelujah!
Week 9 Report Card
Total Miles for the Week: 29.0
Total Training Miles for NJ Marathon: 210.97
I am very proud to say that I made it through week 9 of training! I didn’t take any barre classes, but I did get an hour of yoga and all of my training runs in, so it was a huge win! I’ve been more diligent about foam rolling and Runner’s knee prevention exercises and I finally did legs up the wall when I got home from the long run – not bad! The KT tape seems like a great tool as I still work on strengthening my weak spots.
Life has been really busy, and burning candles at both ends certainly create a lot of stress and weariness day to day…but I’m still fighting the good fight and building back my mental strength to do what needs to be done! I’m really hoping that my blogging will get back in step and that I can I don’t know, eat healthy food? Call me the comeback kid, Week 9 gets an A grade!
P.S. – Don’t forget that Tunes Tuesday for March is tomorrow! The theme is Pump-Up Jams, hope to see you there!
Were you impacted by Friday’s Nor’easter? Does training in the winter ever drag you down?
Winters in Las Vegas are pretty mild, so I hate to complain, but when we have several days of cloudy weather, it definitely starts to wear on me a bit.
Sounds like you’re on your way out of your funk! You got this!!
Thanks a lot, Clarinda, I appreciate it!!
I had some winter blues during the second half of February. I’m ready for spring and sunny, warm days. I’m now on my third training week and I think this has helped drag me up from those blues.
Running can definitely help with the winter blues! Spring is so close but so far!
I totally feel you! Training can often get boring when you are weeks into it and it doesnt help to have all the aches and pains. I have so many more issues with my training this time so I’m going to retire from the marathon distance for a while. I have realized that it’s just not worth it for me to labor through long runs that hurt, lol
Congrats on an awesome long run this weekend! I am glad that you were able to bounce back from your training struggles last week. So awesome that Bret was able to join you too!
The monotony…aw man! I have found that running different routes has helped keep me stimulated. Maybe I need to make a new playlist for some inspiration. This marathon training…I’m definitely going back to half marathons once this race is done!
And thanks! Bret was a real trooper.
It definitely sounds like a good week and one that’s helping get back on track 🙂 That’s good news that the KT Tape helped with the knee during the long run.
Thanks a lot, Chaitali! The week was just what I needed 🙂
That’s so great your 15-miler went well! I had a windy 10-miler on Saturday…and I almost left the house without taping my arches. I totally hear you on the training through the winter thing. If this were summer time (when I’m usually doing long runs), it would just be routine for me to tape my feet as I’m getting dressed…but with all the long layers, etc. the taping totally was forgotten ((almost)). I want my summer back (have I said that before?)!!
I definitely need to practice taping my arches…I think that somehow when I applied the KT tape I did it in a way that it would pull on my calf while running, which ended up feeling pretty awful.
Summer running is another type of torture for me LOL but I would like weather in the 50’s with a lot less wind! 🙂
I can’t imagine training for a full this winter. Kudos to you.
You are doing amazingly well.
It’s easy to get down on oneself. Running is hard!!!
Thanks for the support, Darlene! It isn’t always easy, from a physical or mental perspective!
You did have a great week of training! I love the pep talk you gave yourself via this post. You got me all fired up and I’m not even training for anything right now!
We’re dealing with one of those storms as we speak–fortunately, we are only supposed to get about an inch of snow, but the winds are ridiculous! The weather has been crazy lately.
Have a great week!
Thanks, Wendy. Sometimes I need to hype myself up, lol!
The wind really makes the storms scary. Thankfully yesterday’s storm wasn’t as bad as predicted. So many people still don’t have power from last week’s storm.
The storm last weekend was unbelievable! Glad you guys made out ok. It sounds like you had a really strong week of workouts! I hope that your aches and pains go away and you can continue with your training!
Thanks a lot, Lisa! I’m hoping things really improve from here 🙂
You are definitely the comeback kid! Well done on those 15 miles. My husband is such a great runner but he is always looking for excuses not to run. When I ask him why, his answer is always “Running is hard. It makes you dig really deep”. And he is right. Each time we go out and get those miles done is a victory on its own. And we have to balance running with all its aches and pains, with all our work schedules/projects, and with life in general. So don’t be too hard on yourself when it all feels a bit blegh sometimes. You have so got this.
Thanks so much Shathiso. It is true that running is hard – and sometimes I’m too hard on myself! Digging deep is so key to being a runner – we all have those rough days. I’m glad I’m getting re-motivated!
It sounds like a good week and I’m happy for you that your long run went well. This winter has not been an easy one to train through, especially trying to train for a full! Keep pushing – you’re doing great!
Thanks a lot, Michelle – I really appreciate it!
Great job on this week of training! I am glad the KT tape helped. That stuff saved my hamstring about a year and a half ago!
I understand how marathon training in winter can be tiring. Even though we don’t get much snow in winter, we get a lot of rain and sometimes a good amount of ice. I originally was going to run Boston next year, but I honestly don’t know if I would want to marathon train through winter with all the rain Seattle can get – not to mention that I rather go skiing or snowshoeing than be tired from high mileage on the weekends.
Thanks a lot, Laura! I’m glad that things are turning around – KT Tape really is a miracle worker!
Training for a race with constant rain would really be tough! I’m glad that I’m training through the winter but has definitely had its downsides!
This winter has been brutal too in Chicago. Seriously, can winter just be over?
I am also training for a marathon on April 28th and I am already tired but also motivated to keep going. Weird combination. I have been very pleased with my runs but just want this to be over. 🙂
How sweet of Bret to go with you on your long run. It’s great you have that kind of support. Hang in there! You’re at that crazy point of marathon training where everything feels so tough! You’ve got this. Thanks for linking.