Day 1… 151 days to go…

Last Sunday I ran/walked what was one of my WORST half marathons… it was by far my slowest, which in a lot of ways makes sense {that’s a post for another time}..

So after a Half I generally always take the next day off training of any kind, just to let my body recover. So Tuesday being two days post Half Marathon it was time to start training for the next thing….. Chicago.

Talking with friends Tuesday night the one word of advice they had for myself and my poor friend I am dragging along with me was… TRAIN…. your other workouts are bonus, now is the time to focus in on running.. nothing else matters (obviously cross-training is super important to reduce risk of injury).. but…

Nothing else is going to prepare you better for running 26.2 miles than running.

This is something I have heard over and over.. something I know it true, but it’s daunting. My friend and I looked at each other, and later encouraged the other that we are not going to die, because this race has become priority #1 in training, we discussed “Runger” {you know.. that feeling of ravenous hunger from all the miles you are running….. but trying desperately to stay on your meal plan…..} and how to stay accountable.. which I really kinda suck at. Anyone else clam up and want to hide when trying to be held accountable?  {I see you, lets figure this out together}

Presently I have 22 weeks to The Chicago Marathon.. Two weeks low impact {which by the way is SUPER hard for me to do, but I need to.. I have to allow time for my foot to heal… also a story for another time} then a 20 week pyramid essentially of training which after 6 weeks I will join a marathon training class at my local Fleet Feet Sports store… {sometimes I need someone else to tell me how to run}

So here are my workouts this week:

Sunday: 13.1

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 3.10 on the Elliptical

Wednesday: 45 minutes of Boot camp

Thursday: Power Yoga

Friday: 55 minute bootcamp + 20min Elliptical

Saturday: Rest

Anyone else get overwhelmed when looking for a training plan!? because I do, everytime!

So for now I’m taking my training one day at a time.

-ebs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year two.

Year one was incredible.

Year two was not.

Year three will be INCREDIBLE (again).

This year as I reached my Gym-iversary, I reminded myself how far I’ve come. This is my nod to my successes, failures, struggles, and accomplishments. Here I will leave my lessons, and hopes for the future.

In year one, I was challenged and naive, I was so excited about the fitness world. Everything was so new, and I jumped in head over heals, and it was magical. That year there was a lot of magic. I lost a lot of weight, learned to eat well, and smashed some real cool goals like running my first half-marathon.

Year two, I fell. hard.

I let so much of what I told myself wouldn’t, happen. I got amazingly overwhelmed by the social pressure, and found myself relying on socialization to make it to the gym, until injury struck, and I found myself in a place where I HAD to do this solo, and remember why I’m doing this. I ended up having 3 total injuries in 2017, and not all were workout related. I found that my body was partly failing me, and had I not been eating well (ish at the time) and exercising I would have been in a lot more trouble than I was in. I had to have a couple really hard deep soul searching moments to remember my “why”, to remember what got me started in the first place.  A lot of days I still have to remind myself about it, in some real ways.

(A lot happened in year two, that I’m nodding to, and walking away from, in attempt to better myself)

Year three. The year of the Marathon.

Back to Basics. To remember who we want to be we have to remember who we were, and not let it over take us. The fitness cycle is not all weight-loss, and race PR’s, it has some really low moments, moments where you question everything, and moments you push through and keep going.

-ebs

 

 

When did this happen?

When did I become a runner? How did this happen? At what point was my sister not the only runner in the family?? Next year I have 3 half-marathons planned (still looking to find 1 more). I have 3 10Ks (6.2miles) I am planning on, the first one being beginning of March. I plan to run a weekly 5k. and do actual 5k races. I want to run most daily.  It calms me. Like any good workout I dislike it pretty greatly while I’m doing it, but afterwards I feel invigorated.

Working out has become a habit. something I do because I want to, but because I feel better afterwards.

November sucked for me. I feel like I alluded to that in my last post. It truly did. I hit a pretty bad funk. My nutrition was not great, I struggled to eat, let alone gain enough calories. I dropped my calorie intake by about 3-500 on any given day. I struggled to make it to the gym and go “balls to the wall”. My Trainer and I had many “real talks” where she told me to cut it out, and to get serious again.  Finally at the end of the month I came clean about my struggles with my fitfam, and accountability group. From there I was able to make a plan.

Since making a plan I feel so much better, I am back on track, and happier. I still have really emotional days. Where I sit in the gym locker room pretty much up until the class it about to start, or where I walk into a class, wish the music was louder, and punch the crap out of a bag, where I bring my own intensity rather than relying on the instructor. Some days it’s Therapy. And yet other days it’s a social hour where we work our butts off and feel great after.

I chose not to measure in December, which is something I generally look forward to. I chose to get refocused and ready to conquer new challenges, to continue to work out, and be absolutely obsessed with fitness, because I love it, and it makes me a better person, rather than because I have this race, goal, or whatever. I am in love with fitness. I love everything about it, in such a holistic way.

I didn’t hit a plateau physically, but I did hit one mentally. I tried to prepare for it, and didn’t. I struggled through it, and chose to change things up. I pushed through where I wanted to quit. I kept going, and checked in where I wanted to cry, and stay home. For that I am Stronger Everyday!

My next Big “race”/Adventure is: a RUCK Tough Race! I am doing one with My Trainer. and absolutely Terrified!  Here is a Link to give you a sneek peak. I’m still not sure I am strong enough. But I am doing this! and I will finish it successfully.

 

 

Also guys, Balance is hard.

– ebs

Preparing for my first 13.1

8 months of anticipation leading up to the events of Sunday. When I first began working towards this idea of a Half Marathon it was daunting. truthfully even hundreds of hours of training and miles later it still feels daunting. It felt so unattainable, which is definitely not the case anymore. This half marathon does not feel unattainable, finishing it is within my grasp, I’m almost there!

They say Races, especially distance races are all in the mind. I would agree and add that the training for them is as well. I have spent countless miles running, walking, jogging, trying to keep a steady pace. I am still fairly sure I can not run a consecutive mile. With that said, I can however walk for 20 feet and start running again. Since my longest run I have been struggling with my IT band, I have to ice after just about every physical anything and do a heck of a lot of yoga and stretching to make sure I don’t injure myself. I think I would also add that the week leading up to the race is a mind game. This week I  finished my Taper. Last Night I finished my last big workout, and tonight I will run 2 miles with my race buddy, and that’s it. I still feel a lot of emotions, and this week my nutrition has been wonky, but I am still doing things. Still relentlessly moving forward.

All in all, I am looking forward to Sunday, I am going to complete my first half marathon, I am running with with Friends, people who have seen me persist through this journey, and reach for the next big thing. I have Friends and Family cheering me on, on the sidelines as well as running with me. I have trained for this. My goal is sub 2:30, and if I’m a few minutes over so be it, I still ran a half marathon. I’m excited because this race is on my Birthday, and afterwards I get to celebrate with a lot of the people I love. I am allowing myself to eat whatever food after the race my stomach thinks it can handle and hoping that food is Pizza. I am looking forward to saying “I am a Half Marathoner” and training for another race.

Little secret, I don’t enjoy running all that much, and am excited to take a couple weeks off before I do a 5k on Thanksgiving with my Fit Fam. However. I do enjoy my runner friends, I enjoy the Runners High, that feeling of  momentary invincibility because I just ran X amount of miles, and yes my body aches, but I feel great! I enjoy being able to just think while running, and finding ways to keep myself going. Running helps me find my internal motivation, without a trainer telling me to keep going. Running is more so me vs. me.

I am thankful for my running friends, and my running community. I’m thankful for people who text me telling me to keep moving my feet when I am running my long runs. I am thankful for the training, time, and energy my trainer has put into me to help me get ready for this race.  And I am ridiculously thankful for everyone who has been cheering me on along the way, who has challenged me to lift heavier, be stronger, go harder, run faster, run. I don’t HAVE to run on Sunday. I GET to run on Sunday, and for that I am richly blessed!

So if you’re new to my journey, thank you. If you have been with me since I started, and long before I decided to even write about it, Thank you.

 

Cheers to 13.1, Ready or Not Here I come!!

 

-ebs

 

I know I said that “Preparing for the Plateau ” would be my next topic. However, It is Race week for me!