Shaking off a bad run

The best way to get over a bad race...is to bust your ass and plan your redemption for the next one :) Which luckily for me was only two weeks away. I got right back on track and followed my training schedule to a T. Lots of shorter runs with speed bursts. 

I had a 10 mile run planned for the weekend and when I got up it was dark grey and pouring rain. I so did not want to go out!! But I was motivated and feeling determined and stubborn. I still whined about it though :)

The wind was tough but I got my speed portions done and felt pretty proud of myself when I got back. The more I ran and as the week went on the better I felt. I couldnt wait to run again just to erase the memory of the bad race. 

I managed to drop another couple lbs getting below 134 for the first time in a while. I hit 134 after the first week and then worked really hard the second week, ate perfectly and after 7 days had only dropped another 0.6 down to 133.4. I was a little annoyed at that. But I just have to keep reminding myself that it gets that much harder at this stage and even if the scale isnt reflecting the work I'm putting in, its still working! My body fat is getting down again as well so I need to remind myself of the non-scale ways to measure progress. 

 

I tend to feel pretty body happy at anything under 134. My clothes fit well and I feel good. 

Also I got a nice little boost when I noticed I made the Nanaimo paper again. So I guess some weeks your stock is down and some weeks you're winning and feel like you are totally winning at this whole life gig :)

Race Re-Cap - Comox Half-Marathon

Apparently it is much harder to blog about races you feel poorly about!!

So the night before the race I woke up at 2am with cramps. You arent supposed to take IBProfen before you race as its bad for your kidneys so I tried to wait it out. By 3:30 I gave up and said fuck the kidneys I need some relief and took some anyways! Woke up race morning tired and sore. 

Registration for this race closes at 10:15 so we got there early...too early in my opinion. I had about 90 minutes of standing around in the auditorium waiting for things to get started. About 30 mins before the race started my stomach started to growl...quite continuously. I hadnt brought anything extra to eat so I downed one of my gels because I didnt know what else to do. 

We went outside and took some start line selfies and I got a decent warm-up in.  

I started out feeling pretty good. This was one of my best races last year and I knew the key was to hold back a bit at the start save your energy for the hills. Ideally I wanted to be right on target or up to 5 seconds per mile slower and then power through on the way back. I was aiming for around a 7:20mins/mile average. The first mile beeped and I was averaging 7:06. It was too fast, at times it kept telling me I needed to slow down because I was faster than 6:45. 

That race day adrenaline though is a beast. I couldnt slow down. Next mile I came in at 7:09 and the third 7:15. Mile 4, 5 and 6 are all up hill. I pretty much new by the end of mile 5 I had screwed myself. My legs got tired and I knew my paces from last year and by mile 6 I was running slower than the last year when I ran a 1:39. Mile 7 was the turn around and the start back down the hill. I remember how strong I felt the year before at that point, knowing I was on target and I just didnt feel that way at all this year. 

  

The absolute highlight of the race though was my girlfriend came out to cheer me on and she had made this sign! Isnt it awesome!!! I laughed so hard and it totally perked me up both times I saw her!!

Mile 8-10 I was able to pick it up a little bit and come in close to target pace. By then the sun had come out and I was way over dressed. Why the heck did I wear a long sleeve on a half-marathon? The wind picked up and was blowing straight on us and my legs felt like lead and I totally hit a wall. I was like this running cloud of negativity. Totally beating myself up, getting slower and slower and hating every second. 

I am one of the happiest racers around my raceday photos are always with a stupid big smile on my face. I love the whole scene. So this was not like me. This finish line photo sums it up. In pain and just wanting to be done.  

I came in at 1:38:45, at least 2 mins slower than I had hoped and placed 4th so I missed the medals. I am well aware that I can be really tough on myself and coming in 4th in a race is a great achievement. But to me it was all about how I felt. If I ran a great race and came in 4th awesome. But no, I know that race well, I made some mistakes early on, ran a poor race and felt like crap.

My uncle also struggled coming in after the race closure time so it was a quiet ride home! I ran the last 200m in with him :)

 I was frustrated and feeling emotional. I dropped my uncle off and cried on the drive home. What a terrible feeling...lol. I cant wait to run this race again next year just to erase that negativity I have associated with it now! 

A comparison of my splits from the last 2 years:

The only silver lining was my running buddy kicked ass. I knew he was on the cusp of the top ten for his age group and had a shot at a ribbon. He ran an awesome race and I had a gut feeling when he crossed the line that he had done it. I checked his placing before I even checked mine and he came in 10th! It was his first time getting a ribbon in the Vancouver Island Race Series which is a really competitive series and he's in a fast age group. Proud of him and I get some kickbacks in the feel good department there because I play the "trainer" role :) 

Being hard on yourself

This week was crazy with work. I worked through most of my coffee breaks which meant no weights or walks. That frustrates me, its a battle between staying on top of the crap that needs to get done and staying on top of my fitness goals. Whatever I chose I feel like I'm failing at one or the other. 

Monday was insane and I didnt get a break till about 2pm. At that point I was a bit overwhelmed and decided to head out for a run. I ran 6 miles at a turtle pace but it felt good to clear my head and de-stress a bit.

But then I got back to the office and there was a message that the Minister was being questioned as we speak about some Rec issues in the Port Alberni area and I needed to be on standby for background info...really?!

Tuesday I worked through the morning then traveled down to Victoria at lunch time so no weights or run. Wednesday I traveled home and had meetings all day. Thursday I had meetings all morning so no weights again but I did get out for another 6 miles easy at lunch.

Friday was scheduled as a speed drill day but I had to leave for a field inspection at 12:30. I had a meeting at 11 so the best I could do was squeeze in an interval drill for 40 mins. 10 mins warm up, 6 intervals of 2 mins at ~6:45 and 2 mins recovery, 10 mins cool down. My running buddy and I were not feeling it at all. Tired legs, no motivation, but we did our best. We ran a super a hilly route and I was super impressed with our final times...

That last one was up a super steep hill but we came in under pace on all the other ones!

So I finished the week feeling somewhat badly. That I hadnt done enough, I had slacked off, I ate at maintenance and therefore didnt drop any weight...bla bla bla. But really that's crap. I have a full-time job that I love, 2 kids and a busy life. I am not a professional runner and things are going to come up. I'll have ran 57 km on my "slacking" week and did a 45mins weights/strength session. 

Some weeks are going to be rockstar weeks where everything lines up and I get out for all my runs, do all my weights and walks.  But, some weeks life will be busy and regardless of me making exercise a priority I wont get as much done as I would like.  I need to be better at reminding myself that that's ok too. I am committed to running, keeping fit, and trying to eating healthy and none of that changes by having a reduced mileage week or a bunch of events to attend.   

On a lighter note this is Tegan's nerf gun target...makes me laugh every time I look at it as it looks like we have a large purple vagina on our wall :)