February 16, 2013

Time vs. Distance and the Stuff in My Head

I could write an entire blog post about how much I hate certain track workouts, and how I realize I have some major unresolved issues regarding the track and my past college days. Let's keep THAT to a minimum while I describe my past week's workout. Oh, Coach, and his lovely 1Ks. I've been working with Coach for 9 months, and I can now guarantee that 1Ks will appear somewhere in the schedule every 4-6 weeks. I despise 1Ks. Hate. Hate. Hate.I will pull every trick in the book avoiding them. The only thing I hate more than 1Ks on the track is 1Ks on the treadmill. And guess what happened on my track day this week- it rained. Hard. And I was forced on the treadmill. Maybe it was part of that near overtraining crap I've been dealing with, or maybe I was tired, or maybe the treadmill was just terrible, but I COULD NOT hit the pace. I did one with it set to 9.8 and nearly flew off the back. I tried a 2nd one and nearly died of just pure misery, and then I threw up the white flag.

Truth is- 1Ks make me miserable. And that's when I decided that I would NOT be doing them anymore. Nope, no more. I was then so mad at myself that I ran 8 miles in the driving rainstorm. I messaged coach and basically told him that I would NOT be doing that workout again. This in itself was a huge step for me. I've always been a people pleaser, a "yes, sir" kind of girl. In a recent convo with Adrienne, she kindly brought to my attention that maybe I was actually doing/thinking of others TOO much. It was time to grab life by the ball, remember? And this to me meant taking control of this terrible thing causing me misery- the 1Ks. I'm not one to tell Coach (or anyone, really) "no." In fact, I'm proud to say that up to this point, I have done every single workout he's given me. And I've liked what I've been doing, minus the 1Ks. Truth is, I am not a professional athlete; therefore this is merely a glorified hobby/passion. Truth be told, I'll probably never even make it to the Trials. So why am I doing something that makes me completely and utterly miserable? I was actually a little scared to tell Coach that I bailed on a workout. I wasn't scared of his reaction or what he would say/do, but I was scared of disappointing him. Isn't that stupid? I knew that I was disappointed in myself, and if he was disappointed, then that would TWO people I was letting down.

The result was good however. He gave me a new and different workout. And I loved it. The workout would be 2 miles a MP, followed by intervals (on the road), measured by time, not distance. I did the first part of this workout with the BF, him wearing the Garmin and pacing us. Then he set off to continue his own tempo workout, while I did my timed intervals. It was dark, and windy, and hilly, and I had a BLAST. I just took off, flying up and down, not caring what pace I was running, just making sure I was breathing hard and keeping good turn over. Then I would check the watch and relax. Repeat and repeat and repeat. It was AWESOME! And I have no idea how fast or slow I ran, nor do I care right now.

Truth is, not only have I been struggling physically, but mentally, too. My confidence has really suffered since Double Bridge. While my body is on the verge of breakdown, my head is, too. And believe me, it is frustrating! This workout, however, was something my spirit needed. And I was really excited about my tempo/race scheduled for this week, too.

And then I got sick. Again. It started with a sore throat Thursday night, and progressed into stabbing throat pain yesterday. The pain I blew off because I was busy getting ready for our Milk Mile fundraiser. Last night after the race, I finally admitted that I was feeling under the weather. We had some people over after the event. We grilled out and hung out, and then I fell asleep on the couch bundled in far too many clothes with chills and body aches. This morning when the alarm went off for my race/workout, I could hardly move. It was like I had been run over! Took my temperature- 101F. This time I didn't wait, though. I took my butt straight to Urgent Care to be diagnosed with a sinus infection and ear infection. I also did something very much unlike me- I didn't try to run through it. Yep, I didn't run today. Something new I'm trying- listening to people smarter than me, like my coach and doctor. I'm all drugged up and resting, hoping to resume training ASAP.

And The Woodlands? Yeah, it's two weeks away. Goal planning will begin soon. In honest reflection, I am considering not going for Sub 3. It just doesn't seem possible/smart right now. However, that is a whole different topic that will be addressed after further reflection and advise from my coach.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry to hear about the infections, but I think there will be a silver lining underneath it all. Rest for you is like chocolate-you gotta have it;)!

    And as much respect as I have for Coach, you speaking up was a wise move-there's more than one way to train to run fast. You know how much I love "running without boundaries" and just going by time. It really is liberating to just feel your run instead of micromanage it.

    At any rate, this may not be the neat little package you wanted to open, but I'm proud of your management of it and my dear lord the idea of a rested Rebecca is a scary thing!! Love ya & feel better!

    Just less than two weeks!

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  2. Lots of good stuff here.
    First, very wise of you to just rest today. Lord know one day isn't going to do anything but help you when you have a fever and already ran about 120 miles this week, including 32x3:00, or whatever it was!
    Hope you are feeling tons better soon. You deserve a FANTASTIC race at woodlands. There will be so many wonderful people to see there too- I'm kind of jealous :)

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