Sleep is Magic for 13.1

I had what I considered to be a fantabulous weekend.  I am not actually sure if fantabulous is a word but I like it!  Ultimately I decided on Friday that I was putting far too much pressure on myself about health/weight etc., and that I needed to take a chillax pill and just live in a happy place for a couple days.  This meant no stressing over food or what I should/shouldn’t do or eat.  Just chill the fuck out.  My body was exhausted for a reason and I ultimately needed to rest it and be nice to it.  It seemed to do the trick.

I let it all go on Friday and pretty much all weekend and I feel so much better.  I probably let it go a little too much. There is rarely an in-between total health nut and crazy binge girl but whatever.  Friday night was exhausted for me so I just watched some TV, ate some dinner, relaxed and went to bed at a decent time.  Saturday morning I woke up and knew I had to drive to Portland for packet pick-up.  I really didn’t want to go alone and suddenly had a wonderful idea. I called my sister to see if my niece was available for the day for a little girl time.  I would go to packet pick up with her but use the opportunity to hit up the mall and take her to Build-A-Bear where she had some gift cards and generally just hang out at the mall.  She is a 10 year old girl so basically the mall is one of her favorite things. 

It was a great idea as ultimately I had a very lovely time hanging out with her and having some company on my car ride.  It’s good to do one on one time here and there with the kids.  Packet pick up was relatively simple and then we hit the mall.  It was fun to see her design her build a dog as it was and then accessorize her.  She has a bit of a stuffed animal fetish so this was kind of perfect.  Then we went to GNC where I got some Quest bars and then the Lego Store in the mall where she built 3 mini-figures, 2 for herself and 1 for her brother and I also picked up my nephew a new Lego set seeing as he did not get to go to the mall. 

We then got some food, as were both starving and I threw caution to the wind and had Taco Time.  Yup, taco and mexi fries and it was good and I didn’t care.  Trying to not stress myself out and just live life.  Then of course the girl had to hit up Claire’s where she spends far too long making decisions.  But she’s a little girl and it’s okay.  Claire’s is like her store, all those shiny pretties. It’s really cute actually.

We managed to drive home, make 1 more stop for dog treats, and then I returned her to her mother. It was a pretty lovely day actually.  Chris got home and we toyed with the idea of going to my mom’s house where there was a gathering but ultimately did not as we were both trying to mentally get ready for the half yesterday.  We made the right decision.  I need more sleep as a general rule for recovery and somehow found that Saturday night, after getting all our stuff ready for the morning, we were in bed by 9 PM. Rare for a Saturday night but ultimately a great thing.  I watched TV for about another hour, or less, not sure before I dozed off.  Which means that I got at minimum 8 solid hours of sleep.  We woke up at 6 AM, to get ready for our half.  This was a manageable time and I felt okay, because I had proper sleep.

We made the drive to Portland.  Got everything situation, bag check, pre run potty.  I love Rock N Roll races, which this one was. They are LARGE, big races which typically might not be my favorite but they are so well organized that they always go off flawlessly.

When I finally started running I felt amazing.  I felt ultra-comfortable and ready.  This is what comes of 2 days rest prior. Clearly the right decision in the end for me.  I needed the break.  So I was running comfortably at like a 9:30-9:40 minute mile pace which felt awesome.  I did this solidly for 3 miles, but almost immediately the course was off mileage.  It was definitely running long. By mile 3 it was a solid .15 miles off.  I know this seems petty to most but when you are working on times it’s annoying.  I was running great and hit the 5k mark, 3.1 somewhere around 29:30 which is a good time for me but of course the “official” 5k mark came almost .15 tenths later and my time was officially 30 something.  Bummer.  Never mind, I was feeling awesome and like I could keep this pace for a while and then at mile 3.5 a giant uphill section began.  And suddenly the time, the pace, the comfortable feeling came crashing down.

I try to run up the hills but it’s pretty hard. Your run isn’t much better than a fast walk.  But you try.  I pushed on. Hoping it would level out at some point so I could get my awesome groove back.  Pretty much I felt like from mile 3.5 to the end of the race really I was running an uphill battle literally.  Nothing crazy steep but always a slight incline. Annoying.  But it could also be that the body registers every slight variation in incline so much more profoundly than it does flat sections or the brief downhill’s that it feels like you are always going up.  More torturous moments for sure.

Eventually I found my pace and it was around 10 minute miles.  I felt really good at this pace for quite a while.  There were a few more giant walking hills for a few moments. A few water break 20 second stops and my average pace was solidly at 10:04 minute miles all the way up until Mile 10 almost. I was feeling ecstatic.  And then my body started to slow a bit.  And another hill, and it doesn’t take much and your pace goes down.  Realistically I wanted to do as well as I did at the Corvallis Half last month when I did like 2:15:35.  That was my goal.  But I also knew the mileage was completely off at this one, whereas Corvallis was dead on. I finished at like 13.12 miles which is perfect.  By Mile 10 I knew we were going to be so off.  By the time I’d see the mile marker on the course for say mile 10, my watch would read 10.35 miles.  Ugh. Depressing. I knew those couple extra tenths of a mile would throw off my pace.  Bummer.

But I pushed on.  It got hard at the end, but overall I was still feeling pretty damned awesome.  Thankful I was able to run at this pace considering last weekend it was a nightmare and at mile 11 or so mentally I just wanted to give up. My pace slowed incredibly etc.  Not happening this weekend and I was thankful that in a week’s time I could see so much improvement.

As I finally made it closer to the finish I saw my watch was close to 13.1 but the finish line was still off.  As my watch clicked to 13.1 I made a mental note of my time it was 2:15 and a few seconds so technically I at least matched my Corvallis time, unofficially of course because when I finally crossed the line my watch was 13.32 miles and 2:17 something.  My official recorded time was 2:17:07.  But I know I definitely ran at the same pace as I did in Corvallis which was lovely for me.  I reached my mental goal and that was what I wanted.  I felt great.  I needed that run.  I needed that reminder that I can run 13.1 miles at around a 10:20 pace.  Unofficially my pace was 10:18 minute miles.  This is lovely to me.  This is a 5.8 speed.  I can run at a 5.8 speed for a whole 13.1 miles.  Actually 13.32 miles.  That is craziness to me. Especially when sometimes I get on a treadmill and the 5.8 pace seems hard and I can barely manage 30 minutes.  I know that I can endure this pace for over 2 freaking hours. That’s cool.

One of these days I will run a flat course and hopefully the stars and moon will align and I will be having a good day and go a little faster. At this point I’d like to keep a 10 minute mile pace for a whole race. That would be my next goal.  But baby steps.  Simply having a good run where I felt great was all I was after.  Everything else is icing on the cake.

Guess what my friends, after the race I didn’t throw up. I didn’t even feel that sick.  I had a slight moment where I thought I felt a little queasy but then it went away.  I managed to do a run and not get sick.  This is an improvement for me as well.  Perhaps by body is readjusting once again to the strain of the half.  I didn’t throw up after runs last year so feeling so sick lately had been annoying.  Glad that I managed yesterday.  But I did feel psychotically hungry and tired. 

We went home and I ate and ate and ate.  Yup, ate so freaking much it wasn’t funny.  I couldn’t eat enough. I was that hungry. Oops.  And then I just wanted to sleep.  I think I napped a little here and there and then finally fell asleep on the couch at like 9 PM for good, woke up at 10 and went to bed and was pretty much out instantly, solidly.  As a result I feel really good today.  Last Monday I felt really tired all day long and I think it was because of lack of proper sleep.  Today I feel amazing!  Lots of good sleep and I guess lots of food in my belly and I feel like I have energy and desire and everything I need to workout. 

I get the feeling that last week I wasn’t really treating my body were well or giving it what it needed to function hence the day in day out tired and cranky.  I already notice a difference today with enough sleep.  I truly believe I might need to make an effort to go to bed earlier than later to have the energy to accomplish my goals.

This week I have a 3 mile run, and two 4.5 mile runs on the schedule for the week.  Friday is going to be a rest day as it is my Grandpa’s funeral and that’s going to be a big all day thing.  I have a 10k run on Sunday scheduled but no half’s.  Actually no half this week and no half next weekend.  2 weekends off from halves before we go into a 3 week stretch of them. Starting in June 3 half’s in 3 weekends.   My training plan of course still calls for runs these next 2 weekends so I will try and get that all figured in.  I feel like my actual training plan during the week is helping me on the weekends.  Yes its more running than I’ve done in a while but I think it’s going to help me be a better runner ultimately.  I have to sacrifice some lifting in the process but it’s only for like 4 months and it’s goal focused on my Maui trip.  When I return from Maui and start to back off from running a little I can get back into heavier lifting.  This is a lifelong pursuit of health and happiness and if for 4 months I shift focus it’s perfectly okay.  I do love running in a way nothing else in my life can come close to touching. Running these races is truly my happiness on so many levels. 

I am really proud of my efforts yesterday, and I beat my time from last year’s Portland Rock N Roll by like almost 7 minutes so that’s a big plus as well. Motivation is a really good thing! Tonight I’m going to the gym and I feel really good.  Not sure what’s quite on the agenda just yet, but it’s all good. Have a great Monday!