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Run club goodness

It was a beautiful evening for a run…perfect! I was coming off of a week of fantastical runs and feeling super strong, I was ready to tear it up! I had my schedule set for a pretty strong track workout and was super excited to be doing it with my run club buds. When showing up I had no idea how much I would actually need them!

I ran the first half of that nasty (by nasty I mean hard, but good!) workout and then had to pause for some bathroom care….my running partner had some serious GI issues and I wasn’t feeling super great myself. I guess maybe a tuna wrap wasn’t the best pre workout food! Anywho I headed back to the track post potty break and proceeded to tear it up…until I was ready to bail on my last quarter. I had already spoke out loud what I had left to do and yet still thought I could skate with out finishing that last one, the rest were done and waiting…its only a quarter right?…ONLY my bud Brad told me to dig deeper, said runnergirlblog girl couldn’t quit and to dig deeper and Ryan offered to run my last with me…and boy did we run! My last quarter was a rockin fast one and while it hurt, I felt good, strong, fast, satisfied and most of all, thankful. I had the support of my clubber friends reminding me to dig deep and running me through the last one.

Run club is pretty great, join us sometime! Check out our schedule at www.elitefeetrunning.com.

~Happy Running!

Return of the MOJO.

Weeks of OK training, weeks of horrible training….yep, had plenty of those. Last week I had a return….of the mojo! Nothing feels better then every workout being just as it should. My recovery runs were recovery, my speed days were rockin’ and I was able to complete each workout as intended and NOT want to die when done, and they weren’t easy.

My friend made an analogy, a solid workout is like depositing money in the bank, a huge withdrawal comes on race day…well if that’s the case I had an overtime paycheck last week! I rocked the swim and bike very well and the run….well lets just say I ran like it was my job!

My first speed workout was just as much mental too. I ran along side a pretty swift runner. By swift I mean, holy batman fast. We were doing a tempo run and I was able to maintain the speed and distance and my partner was not. He asked yesterday, “Do you think you would have understood how hard that workout really was if I was able to finish it?” I hadn’t given it any thought before, but perhaps not. I know it sounds horrible but it did feel REALLY great to know I could do that workout, it was long and fast and I could do it, and do it well. So while I was bummed he couldn’t, I sure was feeling pretty great about myself! I hate to say at the expense of someone else’s non completion I gained a ton of confidence.

I finished my week of awesomeness along side Tom for a great 10 miler last night. It was late, we were hungry and WOW did we rock out 10. I felt like I was floating….finishing that run I knew, I had it back. The mojo that is. It’s been a long time coming and I am sure it will try to continue to come and go but I shall draw on the last week of running as a base everytime I start to question myself. Confidence was built!

Do you have those weeks? Weeks where it all comes back together?, your training is solid, mentally you feel like a running machine and you just know you have your game back? Embrace those weeks, and if it’s been awhile, pursue that week. Start out planning to have one, you run hard, you deserve it, and the feeling is second to none.

Happy Running!

Race day dissapointment x 2

There are many reasons I love race day…yea, that list is crazy long.  Two of the biggies are the sense of accomplishment I feel upon completion of a well ran race and the camaraderie that comes along with a good race. There is something great about a race atmosphere and the excitement and energy that people exude. 

I left my last race sadly disappointed in my two favorite things.  Number one was all on me.  I ran a bad race.  There was no reason I couldn’t have met my goal of 10k in under 7’s per mile, no reason.  I turned out 7:04’s out of sheer lack of will.  I caved.  I could say it was the pouring rain or the scattered training because of my hip but those were the excuses I told myself that day to feel better about the fact I failed myself.  Real truth is just that, I failed me.  I had it in me.  My mind quit and my “pain cave” just isn’t big enough yet.  I learned a lot that day so I am not hating myself still but dang! that did stink.

Disappointment number two….mean girls.  What the heck?!  I noticed before the race there were a lot of racing shimmels similar to mine out there…not the same team but the same brand/color.  Hard to not notice awesome orange NB jerseys! J  They were running for a Lansing team that shall remain nameless as a courtesy.  I ran the majority of the race surrounded by a number of the girls and a few finished ahead of me.  Upon completion I went up to them by the water tables and said, “hey! great race!  What an inspiration you guys were, totally impressed.”  They looked at me, gave me a look, each had there own snide mean girl look and then started conversating as if I hadn’t just spoken….I thought, ok, they didn’t know how to handle nice people…after a little time passed and I was waiting for the 5k to finish I saw the pack o’ mean girls stroll by and I smiled and said, “great day for a run huh?!” insert sarcasm as pouring rain…again, not one word just weird looks.  I was a bit taken back as I am out of high school and thought that they were too.  You see I am sponsored by a store and shoe company, I am sponsored because I am a fairly good runner and they believe I would be good representation for their companies.  These girls were sponsored too, only difference is they were horrible representation for the store they were sponsored by.  Unless the attitude that the store wants to convey is that of rude unfriendly runners….doesn’t much make me want to drive the hour to run that race again and SURELY if I were living in that area I would not be frequenting that store or there run clubs or clinics.  It’s a shame really…running is a beautiful sport; perhaps they just don’t know it.

Prerace Rituals

Racing rituals are a silly thing…one person once told me that superstition was a sign of weakeness, or maybe it was fear, in any case I prefer to call them “rituals.” I will say the fact that I still have a Roctane Gu taped to my bike that must remain there until I mount the bike on the road again is a bit silly. :) I totally love and respect the wise man who shared that and for a bit started to question my silliness. Only, I find comfort in my rituals. I am about to embark on a prerace ritualistic night. I will set out my racing gear, I will charge my Garmin over night, though, it is already charged. I will drink sports drink from a wine glass and I will read running magazines and running blogs to inspire me. I will pray that God blesses me with a good race and uses me as a witness. I will thank him for the gift he has given me and the joy it brings me. I will get nervous, I will go over my race plan, I will get excited, I will get crabby, I will get perky, I will talk to other runners, I will visual my success, I will picture the race clock under 43:41 and feel confident that I can PR, even this early in the season. I will be thankful and terrified and I will hear the words a friend shared with me to calm myself. At a race in Bay City this year a buddy of mine (the ever awesome Trevor Coleman) says, ya know professional football players, golfers, basketball players, if you saw them out before a game or match they wouldn’t look nervous or scared, they are confident because they are going to do what they do. You ARE a runner, you are going to go run. I am good runner, and I ran well that day. So I am about to sign off confident that as I gather my uniform and socks and shoes and then sit on my couch flipping through Running Times sipping on my Gatorade that I am ok to enjoy my process, because while superstition is one of the seven negative emotions, this prerace ritual, well it’s one of my favorite things.

Happy Running!!